The UK, with its rich history in high-performance automotive manufacturing and elite motorsport, faces a golden opportunity to lead the electrification of supercar production if it can attract investment into the domestic supply-chain, says McLaren Automotive CEO, Michael Leiters.

Leiters says the existing UK supply-chain is currently not equipped to meet the unique performance requirements of electric supercars and calls on any future UK Government to provide a strategic roadmap for investment in future powertrain technologies.

A clear industrial strategy, led by investment in the domestic supply-chain, will deliver growth, support jobs, help decarbonise the economy and secure a vibrant future for the UK performance car industry.

It’s time we regained confidence in our sector by investing in a world-class domestic supply-chain to support the development of tomorrow’s high-performance vehicles.

We must harness the skills, knowledge and ingenuity of the UK motorsport and performance car industry to create a global, high-performance center of excellence.

—Michael Leiters

Leiters says government support is also essential in order to de-risk the transition to electrification.

The costs of this technological shift are astronomical, especially for low-volume, highly-specialized suppliers. Today, customer demand for electric supercars remains extremely low as the technology is not sufficiently mature to rival the performance of today’s hybrid and combustion engine offerings, which makes it a risky investment both for OEMs and their suppliers.

But we have an opportunity to invest in next-generation, high power-dense battery cell manufacturing and ensure the UK is at the forefront of future performance car powertrain technology.

Even hybrid vehicles, which we expect will account for the majority of supercars sold throughout this decade, require the need to locally-source high-performance battery technology due to the EU rules of origin requirements on exported vehicles.

—Michael Leiters

Leiters says the challenge of meeting rules of origin requirements would only increase with the shift to pure electric vehicles.

Leiters says that historically it has been the luxury and high-performance market that has led the industry in technological change.