Professor Gordon Murray, the South African designer of Formula One race cars and the legendary McLaren F1, announced a new vehicle manufacturing company. The new low-volume company will be called Gordon Murray Automotive. The designer-turned carmaker will employ a newer version of his iStream automotive production system for all the upcoming cars under the new banner.
The first car will be a flagship model and will break cover on 3 November at the ‘One Formula’ exhibition. The first car will “buck the current trend for ever more complicated and heavy vehicles” according to the new-found carmaker.
The yet-to-be-named car will use the iStream manufacturing process. It will lend the car a strong, lightweight structure which can be quickly and cheaply built thus enabling manufacturers to mass produce complex structures more easily. The iStream was previously used by Gordon Murray for his very own T25 city car (pictured above) and the 2015 Yamaha Sports Ride concept car.
No further details about the first flagship model have been revealed as of now. However, the carmaker assures that the car will return to the principles applied to the McLaren F1. Gordon Murray was one of the major contributors to the resurrected TVR Griffith. The new Griffith is also based on the iStream process and boasts of a lightweight body with a 500bhp V8 motor. We hope that the new flagship for the Gordon Murray Automotive comes as a direct counterpart to the hardcore TVR.
Professor Gordon Murray, speaking on his upcoming company, said “The new manufacturing business significantly expands the capabilities of our group of companies. With our first new car, we will demonstrate a return to the design and engineering principles that have made the McLaren F1 such an icon.”
Gordon Murray Automotive forms part of a new corporate organisation for the engineering group. It is positioned as a sister company to Gordon Murray Design. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Murray in the vehicle engineering and design, the 10th year of Gordon Murray Design, 25 years since the McLaren F1 entered production, and the 10th anniversary of the company’s innovative automotive manufacturing technology, the iStream.
The ‘One Formula’ exhibition will bring together almost every race and road car from Gordon Murray’s 50-year career. It will showcase familiar milestone cars, as well as a number of designs that have never or rarely been on the show before.
