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McLaren ‘to axe quarter of workforce putting 1,200 jobs at risk’ amid coronavirus pandemic

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SUPERCAR maker McLaren is expected to axe 1,200 jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Sky News today reported that a quarter of the company’s workforce will be cut in the latest blow to the automotive industry.

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 McLaren have confirmed that all their team members have returned to the UK

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McLaren have confirmed that all their team members have returned to the UKCredit: Reuters

Affected roles are thought to be spread across McLaren’s Forumla 1, road-car and applied technologies operations.

The company, which claims to be a major employer in the south east and Sheffield, currently has a workforce of about 4,000 people who have already taken wage cuts or been put on furlough due to the coronavirus crisis.

But the firm, which was set-up by racing driver Bruce McLaren in 1963, is now reportedly hoping to borrow up to £275million against the value of its classic car collection and its HQ – although Sky News says it’s initially been rejected for a bailout from the UK government.

Paul Walsh, the company’s executive chairman, told Sky it was “undoubtedly a challenging time for our company, and particularly our people, but especially those whose jobs may be affected”.

Mr Walsh added that the company had already “undertaken dramatic cost-saving measures across all areas of the business”.

McLaren posted a revenue of £1.4billion in 2019, and a post-tax profit of £33million from sales of 4,765 vehicles, plus its F1 and technology arms.

F1 has been forced to cancel its first ten meets due to the epidemic, and it’s now hoping to restart races in June.

A cap on the cost car manufacturers spend on F1 vehicles that had been due to take force next year has been postponed to 2022 because of the crisis.

The Sun has reached out to McLaren and we’ll update this story if we hear back.

It’s not the only car manufacturer to run into difficulties – just last week Rolls-Royce said it was to cut at least 9,000 jobs.

While last summer Ford said 3,100 roles were at risk over the next 18 months, and Nissan cut 12,500 jobs globally.

Lewis Hamilton doesn’t want to leave hotel room over F1 coronavirus fears as McLaren pull out of Australian GP



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