By Steven Symes 
Things are changing at McLaren with new owners CYVN Holdings in charge, with a new CEO at the helm of the storied British automaker. Nick Collins is the new chief executive, coming from Forseven, a luxury British automotive startup that’s also owned by CYVN.
A shift is happening in the new car market.
Collins isn’t an unknown quantity. The man worked for Jaguar Land Rover for nine years, three of them serving as head of vehicle programs. Before his tenure with JLR, he was with Ford Europe for over 20 years.
In other words, the man has been involved in the auto industry his entire professional life. Hopefully, that means he has a passion for high-performance vehicles and prioritizes that with McLaren.
McLaren’s former CEO, Michael Leiters, was put into his position in July 2022. He was formerly an executive with Porsche and Ferrari, so the man came with an impressive set of qualifications. While people have opinions about what he did at the head of the company, the man dealt with some big financial problems while helping launch the 750S, Solus GT, and Artura lines into the market.
The British brand suffered considerably during the Covid period, unlike competitors such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. McLaren had to sell off assets and make other painful changes just to keep the lights on.
In addition, McLaren has struggled to keep up with the push to electrification which was sweeping through the industry but now has a questionable future. Collins will need to navigate the rapidly changing landscape in the industry, so the man has his work cut out for him.
It will be interesting to see what direction McLaren goes at this point. We likely won’t see the effects of the leadership change on future models for at least a couple of years.
Image via McLaren