After almost a decade with the company and eight as CEO, Mike Flewitt is set to leave McLaren. Which is pretty big news in the grand scheme of things, given where the company was in 2013 - back when the world still wasn't sure about the 12C - and where it is now, firmly in the upper echelons of the supercar establishment.
There have been a number of memorable milestones under Flewitt's tenure as Chief Executive Officer. The 675LT completely transformed expectations of a McLaren; the 720S is arguably the most complete supercar of recent times, and the Sports Series proved that McLaren genius could reach down to 911 money. The past few years haven't been an unmitigated triumph - neither the Senna nor the GT have been quite so widely adored - but Flewitt's time from 2013 as CEO surely ranks as broadly successful. The cars were obviously not the result of one man's endeavour, but as the bad news buck also stopped with Flewitt it's only fair that he takes his due share of the plaudits as well.
Speaking of his time at Woking, Mike Flewitt said: "I feel incredibly proud to have led McLaren Automotive through most of its first, highly-successful decade and am privileged to have played a part in the incredible McLaren story." He first joined in the summer of 2012 as Chief Operating Officer from Ford of Europe.
The responsibilities of a CEO will be assumed by Michael Macht and Paul Walsh while the search for Flewitt's replacement takes place. The job looks nothing if not demanding right now: the Artura hybrid is about to reach customers, the 720S is almost five years old already, the SUV question will continue to be asked alongside the prospect of a purely electric McLaren. As in the past decade, some very important years lay ahead; the recruitment of a top CEO will be key to McLaren's success in them.
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