McLaren
McLaren Automotive and Bowers & Wilkins announce multi-year partnership
Luxury supercar maker McLaren Automotive and Bowers & Wilkins, the respected high-end audio brand, today announce their strategic long-term multi-year partnership which sees Bowers & Wilkins become McLaren's Official Audio Partner.
The partnership builds on the established history both brands have together. Since 2015, Bowers & Wilkins has been responsible for the development of the high-performance audio systems found in the marque's supercars and hypercars.
One of the world’s most respected audio brands, Bowers & Wilkins is famed for pushing the boundaries of loudspeaker capability, with the goal of revealing as much of the original recording as possible – without ever changing or distorting that sound. This pursuit of perfection, instilled by founder John Bowers, is still evident today.
McLaren’s own unrelenting approach, born of visionary founder Bruce McLaren's desire to design and build the world's most exhilarating supercars, shares many parallels with that of Bowers & Wilkins. Both brands’ desire to exceed the limits of what is possible is evident in their respective product ranges.
The partnership is built on firm technical foundations. Bowers & Wilkins has worked closely with McLaren's design and engineering teams to create and optimise the audio system found in the company's supercars.
McLaren’s latest supercars feature the very latest speaker technologies which have been developed in Southwater, home to the Bowers & Wilkins research and development team since 2019 and only 30 miles away from the McLaren global HQ.
Since the brands started working together, notable integration landmarks have included the famous yellow Aramid Fibre cones, Rohacell subwoofers, Diamond dome tweeters, dual-opposed subwoofers and recently the proprietary Continuum® cone. All are proven high-performance hi-fi loudspeaker technologies that add to the overall supercar experience.
The successful technical and design collaboration has already been recognised, with two iF design awards for the system integrations of Bowers & Wilkins in both McLaren's Speedtail and GT models received shortly after their introduction.
The partnership has now expanded beyond traditional automotive applications for drive unit installation. Pioneering advances include subwoofers being integrated into McLaren’s innovative, in-house designed and manufactured McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture carbon fibre monocoque, ensuring a stiff – and therefore inert – mounting surface, which enables better sound.
As part of the new partnership, Bowers & Wilkins branding will appear prominently on McLaren Automotive's Partner roster and the two companies have pledged to explore exciting new portable and home audio collaborations together.
"McLaren and Bowers & Wilkins were both founded by similarly minded technical visionaries who always pushed the boundaries of what is possible to create innovative products and experiences. We are, therefore, delighted to be announcing our partnership which builds on the award-winning technical collaboration between our two companies and I'm looking forward to exploring what exciting innovations and products our shared values will create next."
Gareth Dunsmore, Chief Marketing Officer, McLaren Automotive
“We are thrilled to formalise this agreement with McLaren Automotive. We have enjoyed a great relationship through engineering and product development for over six years, but this adds even more to the partnership, and we jointly look forward to sharing more on our future plans soon.”
Dave Sheen, SVP of Licensing and Partnerships, Sound United
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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 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’s product portfolio of GT, supercar, Motorsport and Ultimate models are retailed through over 100 retailers in over 40 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 P1TM. In 2016, it announced a new hybrid hyper-GT and confirmed in 2018 that the next Ultimate car would be the Speedtail.
2019 saw McLaren launch the 600LT Spider, the new GT and the track-only McLaren Senna GTR. It also unveiled the 620R and McLaren Elva before launching the 765LT the following year.
Most recently, the company unveiled its all-new high-performance hybrid supercar, the
McLaren Artura. The Artura is the first McLaren to benefit from the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA). The MCLA is designed, developed and manufactured at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre in the Sheffield region of England using world-first processes and will spearhead the brand’s electrified future.
McLaren Automotive also chooses to partner with like-minded, world-leading companies and organisations who push the boundaries in their respective fields. These include AkzoNobel, Ashurst, Dell Technologies, Gulf, InfiniteWorld, Pirelli, Richard Mille, Plan International and Tumi.
About McLaren Group:
The McLaren Group is a global leader in luxury automotive and elite motorsports with a focus on its Automotive supercar and Racing businesses. Founded in 1963 by racer, engineer and entrepreneur Bruce McLaren, the Group is formed of McLaren Automotive, which hand-builds lightweight supercars; and a majority stake in McLaren Racing which competes in the Formula 1 World Championship and INDYCAR in the US. The Group is globally headquartered at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. With a reputation for innovation and technological excellence, McLaren is one of the UK’s largest independent companies.
About Bowers & Wilkins
Bowers & Wilkins, founded in the U.K. in 1966, has been at the forefront of high- performance audio technology for more than 50 years. It designs and manufactures precision home speakers, headphones, custom installation and performance car audio products that set new standards for innovation and sound quality, earning countless awards and accolades from the world’s leading recording studios and musicians. Bowers & Wilkins’ reputation is based on the unwavering pursuit of the best possible sound and an unsurpassable music listening experience. Bowers & Wilkins joined the Sound United LLC family of brands in 2020.
Learn more at www.bowerswilkins.com
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