McLaren in £1.2bn Brexit boost with new models

BRITISH supercar maker McLaren is set to spend £1.2billion building a new range of hybrid sports cars in the UK.

And the Woking-based firm – which plans to create 200 jobs opening a factory in Sheffield this year – is the latest manufacturer to signal the end of the traditional combustion engine.

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it revealed its ambition to launch 18 new models between now and 2025 – and almost double production.

In a vote of confidence for Brexit, it aims to produce 6,000 sports cars and supercars a year, up from 3,300 a year. From 2025, it will make only hybrid cars, which combine a petrol engine with an electric motor.

Volvo and Toyota have already announced plans to build solely hybrid or electric cars. BMW also confirmed plans to build the new electric Mini in Oxford. McLaren launched the P1 – the world’s first petrol-electric hybrid hypercar – five years ago. One of the 18 cars to be launched before 2025 will be a new version of the P1.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘I do hope that the doomsayers at the CBI will welcome this huge investment in a post-Brexit Britain by a respected manufacturer which will create more prosperity and jobs.’