Mercedes and McLaren on the rocks - CAR magazine Feb issue
 

Yep, it's true. I'm going to post the entire article when I find time, but basically it means that the 2 supercars planned after the SLR are canned. No more P7 and P8 (or was it P8 and P9?), in which one of them was supposedly a mid-engined Murcielago chaser. The internal problems are even stretching beyond the production cars, and are leaking over the F1 agreements. Only difference is tha Mercedes and McLaren's contracts are etched in stone until 2006. 2007 and beyond is a different matter, since apparently Mercedes is favouring the breakaway "GPWC" that is looming over F1's horizon, whilst Ron Dennis and co. seem to be leaning towards F1.

Apparently, one of the reasons for the problems are the stinging press reports regarding the SLR MacMerc. Seems like the McLaren boys were not happy with it being "a little too Mercedes, and not enough McLaren"

Lets hope Mclaren is able to develop and produce cars on its own...It would be pretty irritating if this meant we're not bound to see any supercars with Mclaren badge in the future.

The problem is somewhat related to that apparently. Mercedes wanted to build a second supercar and/or a sequel to the SLR using the SLR platform, in order for the investment to make a decent return. McLaren opposed the idea because they felt that the SLR was already substandard in the first place.

does this mean a possibe future partnership of McLaren and BMW? Lets hope so! As for the SLR, yeah it was pretty much super buff SL with McLaren engineering thrown in. Still though, it doesn't get nearly as much respect as it deserves

"a little too Mercedes, and not enough McLaren"

My thoughts exactly!

well, that would be nice. get ride of the Star. And yes, going back to the Propeller would be nice (imagine a nice, highly tuned V12 version of bimmer's current v10 in the M5...mmm)

Sux some, cuz they invested all that mulah in the new factory (that looks like an art museum, btw). I was kinda looking forward to a mid engined supercar.

Mercedes tanking sales and declining reputation in quality over the past few yrs hasn't helped i'm sure.

Me too...it was said to literally decimate all the competitors

To hell with mclaren mercedes. Let them join BMW and make another Supercar.

^it's such an appealing idea, esp. considering all the lore that still exists over the F1 and how it's survived the times in spite of so many other supercars coming into the market. too bad BMW and Williams seem to be going steady w/ each other.

But how would that affect the BMW/Williams deal now? I'm sure thats a bit of a factor in the long run....

partnership in F1 doesnt cross from track to road, perhaps??

Well how long do you think BMW will stay with williams if williams cant win?

Didn't they just extend their partnership with Williams? I hope so much that BMW will get together with McLaren both on road, and on the track. That would make me cream my pants if they joined up.

Williams can file for conflict of interest on BMW's part because apparently, (and this is sourced from a magazine's interview of William's technical director) BMW's R&D team are a single unit. There is actually no separation between the F1 R&D team, and the road car R&D team. The Williams technical director (IIRC, it was Patrick Head... or I think it was even Frank himself) said that at first they were suspicious as to why BMW's engineers wanted to conduct aerodynamic testing in the Williams wind tunnel - Williams thought that BMW was using it as R&D in order to set up a single F1 team, a la Ferrari. Now they don't mind it so much anymore, since BMW have proven to be committed to the partnership.

Which is why a partnership with McLaren whilst the one with Williams is existing is pretty much impossible.

Merecedes own 40% of mclaren (TAG and Ron Dennis make up the other 60%) so merecedes has an overwhelming opinion on everything mclaren does.....

My opinion is that they shouldnt have joined forces in the first place.....

Bearing in mind, Ilmor produce the F1 engines, (merecedes just owns and brands them) and have only made the SLR a worse car than it shoul have been, i dont see how mercedes actually help McLaren other than providing a bit of money which mclaren are hardly short of anyway....