McLaren Logo: Meaning, History and the 2026 Wordmark

The New McLaren Logo (September 2026)

1. 2026
2. 1963–1970
3. 1965
4. 1971–1980
5. 1981–1990
6. 1991–1997
7. 1997–2006
8. 2007–2017
9. 2010–2017
10. 2017–2021
11. 2021–2026

Yes, McLaren has a new logo. On September 22, 2026, the company announced an evolved brand identity for both McLaren Automotive and McLaren Racing, built around a new wordmark. The Speedmark, the Speedy Kiwi and papaya orange all stay, so what changed is the lettering, not the symbol.

What Changed in the New McLaren Wordmark

The new wordmark spells MCLAREN in wide, all-capital sans-serif letters, with one exception: a small lowercase c that rests on a short horizontal line. It is lighter and more open than the heavy lettering that dominated the brand for decades. This lettering is reported as the basis of a custom typeface called McLaren Sans.

Here is how the old McLaren logo compares with the new one:

	Old wordmark (to September 2026)	New wordmark (from September 22, 2026)
Letters	Mixed case, “McLaren”	All capitals, lowercase c on a line
Weight	Heavy and bold	Lighter, wider, more open
Source	Earlier McLaren wordmarks	The sign on the McLaren family’s service station
Symbol	Speedmark	Speedmark, kept
Scope	Papaya for Racing, black for Automotive	One identity for both

Creative Bloq compared the look to a luxury fashion brand, and Car and Driver described it as replacing the bolder wordmark first introduced in 1981.

Where the New Lettering Comes From

The letters are based on the sign above the service station owned by Bruce McLaren’s parents, Les and Ruth McLaren, in Remuera, Auckland. As a teenager, Bruce rebuilt a 1929 Austin 7 Ulster in that garage, and it became the car that gave him his first race win.

The announcement was fronted by one executive from each business: David Woodhouse, Chief Creative Officer of McLaren Automotive, and Lou McEwen, Chief Marketing Officer of McLaren Racing.

Is the McLaren Logo Still a Kiwi? What Stays

Yes, the kiwi stays. The Speedy Kiwi, introduced in 1971, is part of the new identity. So is the Speedmark, which the press release keeps at the center of the brand; one early report that it would be limited to sub-brands misread the release. Papaya orange also remains, joined by an expanded palette drawn from key moments in McLaren history.

First seen on: the McL 6GT, revealed at Monterey Car Week and inspired by Bruce McLaren’s M6GT. It is the first model to carry the new McLaren logo, spelled across its tail, and it is not expected before 2028.

McLaren Logo Meaning: The Kiwi, the Speedmark and Papaya

The McLaren symbol has two parts with separate meanings. The kiwi, used in the first logos and kept today as the Speedy Kiwi, stands for New Zealand, the home country of founder Bruce McLaren. The Speedmark, the curved swoosh on the McLaren car logo, represents the air vortices a racing car’s rear wing creates. Papaya is the brand color rather than a symbol, and its story is in the FAQ below.

Unlike the horse of Ferrari or the bull of Lamborghini, the Speedmark depicts no animal, and no McLaren logo has ever had wings.

Why the First McLaren Symbol Was a Kiwi

The kiwi is New Zealand’s national symbol, and Bruce McLaren was born in Auckland. When motorsport artist Michael Turner designed the team’s first crest in 1964, he put a black kiwi at its center as a tribute to that homeland. McLaren describes the result as closer to a coat of arms than a corporate identity.

The 1971 Speedy Kiwi kept the bird but redrew it leaning forward, to suggest the higher speeds Bruce’s cars raced at.

What the McLaren Speedmark Represents

The Speedmark is the abstract McLaren symbol: a tapered swoosh that first appeared in 1997, placed on top of the F1 cars’ side-pods. Officially, the shape resembles the vortices generated by the rear wing. McLaren also offers a second reading, the aggressive markings seen on predatory animals and insects.

Fans offer other readings: a stylized kiwi head, a softened version of the chevron it replaced, or a figure 1. None of them comes from McLaren.

When people mention the McLaren emblem on a modern car, they usually mean the Speedmark, not the lettering beside it.

McLaren Logo History: Every Version Since 1963

The McLaren logo has gone through 11 versions since the racing team began in 1963. Dates follow McLaren’s heritage page; sites that say the crest was created in 1963, the Speedy Kiwi arrived in 1967 or the Speedmark in 1998 disagree with it.

1963–1970: The Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team Crest

Used by: the racing team. The original McLaren symbol was a shield designed in 1964 by Michael Turner and used from the team’s early years until 1970. Under BRUCE McLAREN and a single-seater silhouette sit a green-and-white checkered field, a red diagonal stripe and a black kiwi, with MOTOR RACING TEAM along the bottom.

For its 60th anniversary in 2023, McLaren Racing put this crest back on its F1 car at the Italian Grand Prix.

A Later Crest Variant Reading McLAREN

Used by: the racing team. A second version of the shield replaces BRUCE McLAREN with a single word, McLAREN, and has a heavier red outline. Logo archives date it to about 1965; McLaren’s heritage page does not list it separately.

1971–1980: The Speedy Kiwi

Used by: the racing team. In 1971, a year after Bruce McLaren’s death, the shield gave way to the Speedy Kiwi, designed by Doug Eyre: a sleeker, forward-leaning kiwi on its own, with new lettering.

McLaren’s papaya orange, known as McLaren Orange, is usually traced to this period, though its exact origin is debated. The file above shows the bird as a plain black silhouette.

1981–1990: The McLaren International Logo

Used by: the racing team. After Team McLaren merged with Ron Dennis’s Project 4 Racing around 1980–81, the team became McLaren International. The new logo came from Raymond Loewy, a present to the team from its main sponsor (Marlboro), and it evokes a checkered flag: rows of chevrons above a heavy italic McLaren wordmark, with INTERNATIONAL beneath.

Rocket red arrived at the same time, chosen after several shades were tested so the sponsor’s color would look right on television.

1991–1997: Three Chevrons Become One

Used by: the racing team, as road-car plans took shape. In 1991 the three rows of chevrons merged into a single red chevron at the top right of the wordmark, and the font became more modern. McLaren links the change to its track ambitions converging with a young road-car division.

1997–2006: The Speedmark Arrives

Used by: the racing team. In 1997 the chevron was replaced by a curved, tapered swoosh in shaded red, rising above the end of the heavy black wordmark. This was the first Speedmark, and it is still in use.

2007–2017: Refined for the Chrome Livery

Used by: the racing team. In 2007 McLaren refined the marque to suit the team’s new Chrome livery, giving it a more modern look. The lettering is lighter in this version, and the Speedmark was kept.

Around 2010–2017: The McLaren Automotive Logo

Used by: McLaren Automotive. After the road-car business relaunched as McLaren Automotive in 2010, it used the wordmark and a red Speedmark with AUTOMOTIVE spelled out in spaced capitals below. Logo archives date this file to about 2012; the company’s first model, the 12C, launched in 2011.

2017–2021: Mono Black Speedmark and One McLaren

Used by: all of McLaren. In 2017 the Speedmark lost its shaded red and turned solid black. McLaren says the change stood for “one” McLaren, with three businesses united as one group. That year Ron Dennis sold his shares, and McLaren Automotive was brought together with the group.

2021–2026: Papaya Speedmark for McLaren Racing

Used by: McLaren Racing only. In 2021 the team’s Speedmark turned flat papaya, and the wordmark got a slimmer, modernized font meant to express agility and speed and to work better on digital screens. The change set the racing team apart, while McLaren Automotive kept its black Speedmark.

2026: One Evolved Identity

Used by: McLaren Automotive and McLaren Racing. The September 2026 identity (see the top of this page) reunites both businesses under one wordmark.

McLaren Racing vs McLaren Automotive Logos

McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive are separate companies, and for much of their history they used different versions of the logo. The McLaren Automotive logo on road cars dates from the 2010 relaunch.

Period	McLaren Racing (F1 team)	Road-car business
1963–1984	Kiwi crest, Speedy Kiwi (1971), McLaren International (1981)	None yet
1985–2009	Single chevron (1991), Speedmark (1997), Chrome refinement (2007)	McLaren Cars, founded 1985; F1 road car unveiled 1992, 106 built
2010–2016	2007 refined wordmark and Speedmark	McLaren Automotive from 2010: wordmark, red Speedmark, AUTOMOTIVE beneath
2017–2020	Mono black Speedmark, “One McLaren”	Same mono black Speedmark
2021–Sept. 2026	Papaya Speedmark, slimmer font	Black Speedmark
From Sept. 22, 2026	New wordmark, Speedmark, Speedy Kiwi, papaya	The same shared identity, first on the McL 6GT

They also have different majority owners; see the FAQ below.

McLaren Logo on the Car: Where the Badge Sits

Which McLaren logo on car bodywork you see depends on when the car was built. Every road car sold so far carries a pre-2026 version, because the McL 6GT will be the first to wear the new branding. Here is which McLaren badge appears where:

• Road cars from the 2010 relaunch: the wordmark with the red Speedmark of the McLaren Automotive logo.
• Road cars from 2017 on: the black Speedmark, which McLaren Automotive kept after Racing switched to papaya.
• F1 cars since 1997: the Speedmark on top of the side-pods, in papaya from 2021.
• McL 6GT (not before 2028): the new wordmark across the tail.

The September announcement says nothing about replacing the McLaren badge on cars already on the road. To date the McLaren logo on car badges, look at the Speedmark first: shaded red points to before 2017, solid black to 2017 or later, and flat papaya to the race team since 2021.

McLaren Logo Fonts, Colors and PNG

The McLaren logo PNG on this page is the current 2026 version: the new capital-letter wordmark in black with a papaya Speedmark, on a transparent background.

• Typeface: the 2026 lettering is reported as the basis of a custom typeface, McLaren Sans.
• Colors: black lettering and a papaya Speedmark. Papaya is now joined by an expanded palette; press reports name shades such as Ember, Midnight, Colnbrook, Mist and Muriwai.
• Black and white: the 2017 mono black version is the official precedent for a single-color McLaren logo.
• Rights: the logo is McLaren’s trademark. The transparent McLaren logo PNG is for reference, editorial and fan use, not for products.

McLaren Country of Origin: A British Brand With a New Zealand Founder

McLaren’s country of origin is the United Kingdom. Its headquarters, the McLaren Technology Centre, is in Woking, England. Its founder’s story starts in New Zealand: Bruce McLaren was born in Auckland and started his racing team in 1963.

The kiwi in the McLaren logo and the 2026 Remuera lettering point to New Zealand; the company is British. McLaren is not German, Japanese or American, even though Mercedes-Benz was an engine partner of the F1 team.

McLaren Cars was founded in 1985 by Ron Dennis, the road-car business relaunched as McLaren Automotive in 2010, and the racing team dates from 1963 and Bruce McLaren.

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