McLaren Automotive, commonly referred to as McLaren, is a British automotive manufacturer of high-performance vehicles. The company was established as McLaren Cars in 1989 as a producer of road cars based on Formula One technology. It works closely with McLaren Racing, the successful Formula One constructor, and is a spinoff of McLaren Group.
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am). The team is the second oldest active team (after Ferrari) and one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won 175 races, 12 drivers' championships and 8 constructors' championships.
Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the team won its first Grand Prix at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix but their greatest initial success was in Can-Am, where they dominated from 1967 to 1971. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972 and Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976. After Bruce McLaren died in a testing accident in 1970, Teddy Mayer took over and led the team to their first Formula One constructors' championship in 1974, with Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt winning the drivers' championship in 1974 and 1976 respectively. 1974 also marked the start of a long standing sponsorship by Phillip Morris' Marlboro cigarette brand.