January 28, 2019
  • McLaren retailer hosts an exclusive event to inspire local school pupils from the West Midlands to choose science and maths-based careers
  • McLaren Automotive STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) ambassadors on-hand to talk to pupils about their work and career for the leading sportscar company
  • Pupils also get to design, build and race their own LEGO vehicles to prove their design, coding and engineering skills
  • Event supported by McLaren Automotive Partners LEGO Education and Pirelli

Pupils from a local school were the special VIP guests of retailer McLaren Birmingham in Solihull this weekend where they got to find out for themselves how pursuing a science or maths based career helps to create some of the world’s most iconic sportscars and supercars.

Year 7 students from Alderbrook School met engineers and designers from McLaren Automotive to find out about what inspired their own journey to the luxury car company and how they use their skills to help push the boundaries of technology in the automotive sector.

The children also got a rare chance to sit in some of the marque’s famous models including a McLaren 570S Spider sportscar before having a chance to flex their engineering and coding brains by building and racing their own LEGO cars. To keep the students on their toes ahead of their LEGO build, McLaren tyre Partner Pirelli also supplied a Batak game to test the students’ reaction times.

The retailer-based event is a further new initiative from the car company to help broaden its extensive STEM and educational outreach to communities across the country.  McLaren Automotive already backs the UK STEM Awards (which has seen previous winners secure permanent roles at McLaren) and has partnered with the BBC on educational science programming for primary school age groups and above.

Developing the next generation of automotive expertise is vitally important to McLaren. As the company continues to grow, the need for a skilled workforce to design, develop, build and sell its cars is also expanding. Having just announced record global sales of 4,806 cars for 2018, the company needs to recruit over 800 people across a wide variety of roles from manufacturing and logistics to design, engineering and support functions.

 “We’re passionate about our cars at McLaren Automotive because our people are passionate about what they do. It’s great for our STEM ambassadors who work at McLaren to help showcase their expertise to these students in the West Midlands and for them to help inspire the next generation to take-up science, maths, engineering and technology subjects. Not only do we want girls and boys to understand what a fulfilling and exciting career they can have by studying STEM subjects at school and beyond but we want them to see how much we value their creativity, energy and ambition which matches our own.

“A big thank you to McLaren Birmingham and our partners LEGO Education and Pirelli for supporting the first-ever McLaren STEM retailer event which we hope will be the first of many.”
Mandeep Dhatt, Executive Director of Human Resources, McLaren Automotive.

“Rybrook McLaren Birmingham is excited to be supporting McLaren’s STEM Programme, by hosting a STEM morning at our state-of-the-art aftersales facility in Blythe Valley Park, Solihull. It is an honour for our retailer to be championing McLaren’s initiative in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers through this interactive, informative and fun morning.

“We hope that this event will broaden horizons for young people in our local area and open doors to future career opportunities that they may never have considered before. Being a part of McLaren Automotive and their involvement in STEM activities is something we pride ourselves on as a retailer. We look forward to being further involved in future STEM opportunities with McLaren Automotive and giving something back to young people in our local community.”
Ian Roberts, McLaren Birmingham, Aftersales Manager.

Ends

Notes to editors:

A selection of high resolution images accompanying this release is available to download from the McLaren Automotive media site – cars.mclaren.press

About McLaren Automotive:

McLaren Automotive is a creator of luxury, high-performance sportscars and supercars.

Every vehicle is hand-assembled at the McLaren Production Centre (MPC) in Woking, Surrey, England.

Launched in 2010, the company is now the largest part of the McLaren Group.

The company has three defined product families: Sports Series, Super Series and Ultimate Series which are retailed through over 80 retailers in 30 markets around the world.

McLaren is a pioneer that continuously pushes the boundaries. In 1981, it introduced lightweight and strong carbon fibre chassis into Formula 1 with the McLaren MP4/1. Then in 1993  it designed and built the McLaren F1 road car - the company has not built a car without a carbon fibre chassis since. As part of the Ultimate Series, McLaren was the first to deliver a hybrid hypercar, the McLaren P1™.

Announced at Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2018, the company’s Track25 business plan will see it invest £1.2billion in research and development to deliver 18 new cars or derivatives by the end of 2025.

2017 saw the company launch further models including the second-generation Super Series, the 570S Spider and the McLaren Senna. In 2018, the company launched the 600LT and the first two cars of Track25, the McLaren Speedtail, the next Ultimate Series and McLaren’s first ever Hyper-GT, and 720S Spider.

To support the development, engineering and manufacture of its range of innovative sportscars and supercars, McLaren Automotive partners with world leading companies to provide specialist expertise and technology. These include AkzoNobel, OnePlus, Pirelli and Richard Mille.

McLaren Group:

The McLaren Group is a global leader in luxury automotive and technology and comprises three businesses: Automotive, Racing and Applied Technologies.

Further information:

Wayne Bruce
Global Communications & PR Director | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7768 132429
Email: [email protected]

Daniel Golding
Global Head of Corporate Communications | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone:+44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7717 450469
Email: [email protected]

Paul Chadderton
Global Product Communications & PR Manager | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone:+44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7990 776749
Email: [email protected]

Amel Boubaaya
Head of Lifestyle and EU Communications | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7920 531357
E-mail: [email protected]

Freddie Gilbey
Lifestyle Communications Manager | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 75 0099 9553
Email: [email protected]

Hunter Skipworth
Social Media Manager | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7990 564 052
E-mail: [email protected]

Kevin Ritson
Press Officer | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7979 546018
E-mail: [email protected]

Roger Ormisher
Vice President, Communications & PR | McLaren North America
Phone: +1 714 501 8137
Email: [email protected]

Laura Tilley
Public Relations | McLaren North America
Phone: +1 765 517 2186
Email: [email protected]

Karin Haferkorn
Head of Marketing & PR, Middle East, Africa and Latin America McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261343
Mobile: +44 (0) 7899 816872
Email: [email protected]

Sunny Zhang
PR Communication Director - China McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +86 (0) 21 2074 0520
Mobile: +86 186 1617 9933
Email: [email protected]

Gracia Yap
PR Manager – Asia Pacific McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +65 6338 3700
Mobile: +65 9109 3698
Email: [email protected]

Media website: cars.mclaren.press
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mclarenautomotive
Twitter: www.twitter.com/McLarenAuto
You Tubewww.youtube.com/mclarenautomotivetv

Contact

McLaren Group Limited

McLaren Technology Centre

Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 4YH [email protected]

For media queries: Daniel Golding

Global Head of Corporate Communications [email protected]