McLaren Is Building a New Factory to Make Its Carbon Fiber Supercar Frames
McLaren will be in-sourcing chassis production with the help of the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Center.
McLaren Automotive will start building its own Monocell and Monocage chassis for its supercars by 2020, thanks to the carmaker's new Composite Technology Center at the University of Sheffield.
The new facility, which represents McLaren's first purpose-built location beyond the reach of the current campus, will be located close to the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Center—which make sense, as the future carbon fiber supercar chassis will be built using advanced manufacturer techniques developed in conjunction with AMRC.
McLaren's new facility brings chassis production in-house
McLaren plans to build production of the facility in early 2017 and hopes to start building chassis for production vehicles there by the year 2020. The new facility will create 200 jobs, according to the carmaker.
McLaren hopes this in-sourcing of production will reduce manufacturing costs, delivering savings of around $12 million while also bringing around $120 million per year to the local community by 2028.
The Composite Technology Center, which, is expected to cost approximately $62.6 million to build at current exchange rates, will be built thanks to a collaboration between McLaren Automotive, the University of Sheffield’s AMRC, and the Sheffield City Council.