McLaren confirms Luca di Montezemolo on new board

It really is all change at McLaren right now. The new McLaren Group Holdings Limited has announced a recapitalisation of the business by its shareholder CYVN Holdings LLC (owned by the Abu Dhabi government), repaying all previous loans. That would have seemed extremely unlikely just a few years ago, and surely puts McLaren on a good footing for its future with Forseven.

Also confirmed today is a new Board of Directors for McLaren Group Holdings Limited, a nine-strong group that will ‘provide visionary leadership to fuel McLaren’s next chapter, firmly focusing on strategic transformation and the evolution of McLaren into a global leader in high performance luxury vehicles’.

The most notable name on that list has to be Luca di Montezemolo; rumours were swirling about the former Maranello man earlier this week, with his name appearing in Companies House documents, and now it’s been made official. The man who transformed Ferrari through the 1990s and early 2000s is now on the board at McLaren. 

That’s really not an understatement, either. Montezemolo was Chairman and CEO of Ferrari from 1991 to 2014; think of how the company was transformed in that time. The front-engined V12 flagship returned to great acclaim with the 550 Maranello (and look where it went from there), the sub-par 348 was replaced by the sensational F355, and the F1 team enjoyed a drastic change in fortunes. Prior to the Schumacher era, there hasn’t been a Ferrari Constructors’ Championship since 1983, and a Drivers’ title since Jody Scheckter in 1979. Even more than a decade since Luca di Montezemolo left Ferrari, his presence on this new board feels like a significant coup. 

Other interesting names on the list include Torsten Müller-Ötvös, CEO of Rolls-Royce from 2010 to 2023 and, from the non-automotive world, Pierre Yves Roussel – he spent 14 years as Chairman and CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group. That’s LVMH for Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy, four of the group’s 75 brands. The other names are Her Excellency Mariam Al Mheiri, His Excellency Jasem Al Zaabi (Chairman), Michel Combes, Kaj-Erik Relander, Paul Walsh and Nick Collins, the CEO of McLaren Group Holdings. 

Collins said of the new appointments: “We are shaping a business that reflects where McLaren is going, not just where it’s been. I warmly welcome our new directors to McLaren Group Holdings. Together, we will provide the strategic oversight to support the next phase of McLaren’s bold ambitions, united by the belief that McLaren can be more, can do more and can offer more.” Don’t expect to wait long before the next big announcement.