McLaren supercar bid to trademark Remuera and Muriwai amid SUV speculation

The McLaren luxury vehicle brand has applied to trademark the names of two iconic Auckland suburbs, with pundits picking they could be revealed as names for the company’s first-ever SUV. 

McLaren has applied to the United Kingdom’s Intellectual Property Office to trademark the words “Remuera” and “Muriwai”. 

Both suburbs are synonymous with Kiwi racing legend Bruce McLaren. 

His parents owned a Remuera service station where McLaren built the car that would take him to his first racing victory. 

And he won his first hill-climb race aged just 15 at the wheel of an Austin Ulster at rugged West Auckland coastal community Muriwai. 

Last month, it emerged that McLaren had used the Remuera petrol station as inspiration behind a new logo for the famous McLaren Formula One team, the reigning constructors’ champions. McLaren’s Lando Norris is also the reigning drivers’ champion. 

The logo is in a similar sans-serif typeface to what appeared as the logo above the family business, with an underscore under the c of McLaren. 

The new McLaren logo. Photo / McLaren 

Today, Hotcars.com reported on McLaren’s bid to trademark the words Remuera and Muriwai, which the website said may signal the impending launch of the company’s first SUV vehicle. 

“Both names trace straight back to Bruce McLaren himself,” Hotcars.com reported. 

“Remuera is the Auckland suburb where he grew up and where his family ran a garage that became the spiritual birthplace of the entire company. 

“Muriwai is the beach on New Zealand’s North Island where a 15-year-old Bruce entered a homemade Austin Ulster in a hill climb and discovered he had a talent for driving fast. 

McLaren supercars can cost upwards of $1.5 million, depending on the model and specs. 

“The filings landed one day before McLaren unveiled a new wordmark lifted directly from the lettering on that Remuera garage’s awning.” 

UK Intellectual Property Office records show trademark applications for both words were filed by McLaren on September 22. The status of both applications is listed as “examination”. 

McLaren is known for its sleek, aerodynamic supercar design. A new hybrid McLaren Artura costs just under $600,000. A McLaren 750S Spider can cost more than $800,000, depending on factory options and carbon-fibre packages. But limited-edition supercars can fetch north of $1.5 million. 

While McLaren is yet to attach either New Zealand place name to a confirmed model, the trademarks come during a $943m expansion programme by the company that looks set to include the company’s new SUV model. 

“McLaren has resisted the SUV wave for over a decade while Porsche’s Cayenne, the Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin’s DBX and Bentley’s Bentayga turned four-door, two-row practicality into the thing that kept supercar makers solvent,” Hotcars.com reports. 

“That resistance appears to be ending.” 

The publication says the new McLaren vehicle will “need an identity”. 

“Naming it after the town where Bruce McLaren grew up, or the beach where he first raced, gives McLaren a story to sell alongside the hardware, and it lines up neatly with the new logo’s own origin in that same Remuera garage signage.” 

The McLaren service station on Remuera Rd, Remuera, Auckland. 

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown told the Herald the trademark development was “fun in a way”. 

“It’s amazing because this guy’s been dead year and years.” 

Brown’s own father used to have his vehicle serviced at the McLaren shop. 

“Dad was always trying to pay off his bill for repairing the car to Mr McLaren. I was only a little kid. There’d be racing cars and Dad’s crappy old Wolseley, which was as reliable as the weather.” 

Asked if he was concerned about a major international company trying to profit on the back of Auckland place names, the mayor said: “Not really. I mean they’ve cashed in on the name McLaren and he came from Remuera.” 

Brown pointed out that Remuera was a Māori word and the trademark bid could therefore be controversial. 

A Kiwi legend 

The Herald reported last month on the McLaren logo announcement. 

Bruce McLaren’s parents Les and Ruth McLaren ran the Remuera petrol station on 586-592 Remuera Rd, purchasing the premises in 1959 in partnership with their son, who launched his motor-racing career the previous year. 

Bruce McLaren’s racing cars were serviced in the building while Australian Formula One driver Jack Brabham, who won three Formula One titles, also based his racing cars at the garage during the 1950s. 

McLaren won four Formula One races between 1958 and 1970 before he died during a test drive at the Goodwood Circuit in West Sussex, England, on June 2, 1970. 

Bruce McLaren, 12 Hours of Sebring, Sebring, 22 March 1963. (Photo by Bernard Cahier/Getty Images) 

Les McLaren sold the business in 1968, but the McLarens retained ownership of the premises until Bruce McLaren’s death in 1970, according to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. 

There were plans in 2017 to turn the building into apartments but until recently, it was a School Uniform Centre. 

“McLaren has evolved enormously over the years but looking back through our shared history across racing and automotive, it’s poignant how much of Bruce’s original vision and spirit still runs through the business today,” Lou McEwen, the chief marketing officer at McLaren Racing, said. 

“This evolved identity perfectly bridges that proud heritage with our future ambition. It celebrates the symbols and stories our fans, partners and teammates already know and love, while giving us a more connected expression of where we’re heading next. It feels unmistakeably McLaren.” 

The McLaren Racing identity also retains the so-called Speedy Kiwi, honouring Bruce McLaren’s New Zealand roots and its long-standing place in McLaren’s history. Last month the Herald reported that the logo is not, in fact, a kiwi. 

“Conceived by an in-house design team, it echoed the distinctive vortices created by the rear wing of the F1 race car.” 

Lane Nichols is Auckland Desk Editor and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.