McLaren has a new logo, and it comes from a sign over a gas station in New Zealand. The new wordmark is based on the lettering above the service station in Remuera, Auckland, that Les and Ruth McLaren owned. Their son, Bruce McLaren, built the car there that took him to his first racing win.
McLaren revealed the change on September 22. For the first time, the road car company and the racing team will share one identity.
The new mark spells the name in wide, thin capital letters, with a small raised "c" that has a line under it. The same raised, underlined "c" appears on the old garage sign in the archive photo McLaren released with the announcement. Creative Bloq pointed out that the new lettering is lighter than before and compared the result to a luxury fashion logo.
The logo it replaces used heavy, slanted lowercase letters with the Speedmark swoosh sitting over the "n." Speedcafe called the switch the biggest change to McLaren's logo since the Speedmark arrived in 1997, the year the team's cars went silver with West sponsorship.
"Throughout our history, we've never been content to follow established paths," said David Woodhouse, chief creative officer at McLaren Automotive. "This evolution of our visual identity captures that spirit."
What stays and where you'll see it
The Speedmark isn't going anywhere, though it now sits apart from the lettering. Woodhouse said it remains "as a little identifier" and that "the wordmark definitely takes dominance," according to Autonext.
Papaya orange stays too, mostly with the racing teams. Road cars are moving toward a dark navy McLaren calls Midnight, Top Gear reported. The Speedy Kiwi, a stylized kiwi McLaren used through the 1970s, also survives as a nod to Bruce McLaren's New Zealand roots.
On track, the new mark debuts at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which runs September 24 to 26, according to Hagerty.
It will spread across the whole racing operation, including the team McLaren is building for the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class and its IndyCar team.
On the road car side, the first car to wear the new lettering across its tail is the McL 6GT, the concept McLaren showed at Pebble Beach. It's McLaren's first car with a manual transmission since the F1, and Autonext reports it's due in 2028.
Not everyone likes it. Hagerty noted that some commenters compared the new mark to the Marriott Bonvoy logo, and others said it could belong to any number of luxury brands. Woodhouse, for his part, named Louis Vuitton and Hermès as the fashion houses whose treatment of their founders he wants McLaren to follow, Autonext reported.
The rebrand also comes as McLaren gets bigger. The company recently confirmed a £500 million investment in its UK manufacturing and engineering that supports an upcoming performance SUV.
The garage behind the sign
The building still stands. According to Heritage New Zealand, the garage went up in 1926 in Remuera's Upland Road shopping village, a two-story brick building in a Spanish Mission style with a T-shaped canopy over the forecourt. Les McLaren bought the business in 1936, and the family lived in one of the flats upstairs. Bruce was born while they lived there.
That's where he learned his way around cars. As a teenager he rebuilt a 1929 Austin 7 Ulster in the workshop, according to Autonext, and that's the car he took to his first win. Heritage New Zealand lists the building as a Category 1 historic place, the category for places of special or outstanding significance.
McLaren isn't the only brand with a logo story people argue about. BMW's roundel has one too, and it's probably not the propeller story you've heard. The McLaren F1, the car that started McLaren's road car business, is up for rating on WhipJury.
Sources:
The new identity, the garage sign, Woodhouse's quote, and what stays: McLaren
The garage's history, the McLaren family's ownership, and its heritage listing: Heritage New Zealand
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix debut, commenter reaction, and the McL 6GT: Hagerty
The Midnight color for road cars: Top Gear
The 1997 Speedmark comparison: Speedcafe
The lighter lettering and the fashion-logo comparison: Creative Bloq
Woodhouse on the Speedmark and fashion houses, the Austin 7, West's silver cars, and the 6GT's timing and gearbox: Autonext
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Cam Walsh has been obsessing over cars since before he could drive one. Based out of Atlanta, Cam covers automotive design, car culture, and the eternal debate over which whips actually look the part.
