Gordon Murray Automotive’s CEO On Building Hypercars, and What’s Next

Even in the rarefied world of hypercars, Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) stands apart. Founded by one of motoring’s great innovators and iconoclasts, Professor Gordon Murray CBE, the company champions many of the attributes that auto enthusiasts hold dear: light weight, form-meets-function design, naturally aspirated V-12 engines, manual transmissions, and, above all, total driver engagement. 

GMA’s opening salvo was nothing less than a clean-sheet reimagining of Murray’s greatest road car: the McLaren F1. Revealed in 2020, the T.50 boasts three-abreast seating, a ground-effect fan, and a 654 hp V-12 that revs to 12,100 rpm. It was followed by the track-only T.50s Niki Lauda—named Hypercar of the Year in Robb Report’s Best of the Best awards for 2024.

Next on the agenda for GMA is a prestigious starring role at this summer’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, taking place July 10 through 13. The marque is also gearing up for production of the 607 hp T.33 and T.33 Spider, with a T.33 Sport model due to debut soon. In addition, GMA has plans for a separate Special Vehicles division that could reinvent the sports car all over again. 

I meet CEO Phillip Lee at GMA’s new headquarters in Surrey, England. The site is a stone’s throw from the former Longcross test track—now a major movie studio—where the McLaren F1 was shaken down. Today, the air will be split by the sound of an even more visceral V-12, but first it’s time for a cup of tea and a catch-up.

Lee was the first employee at GMA, helping to establish the business with Murray himself in 2019. “Joining Gordon was a chance to start from the ground up and work with my childhood hero,” says Lee. “I can remember watching the McLaren F1 review on Top Gear and excitedly showing it to my dad. I was obsessed even then, and I have followed Gordon’s career ever since.” 

A qualified accountant, Lee has spent 28 years in the automotive industry. “I worked all over the world for a plastics supplier, then returned to the U.K. in 2015 to launch the LEVC TX.” The latter is better known to Brits as the black cab, as the TX rebooted London’s iconic taxi with a range-extender hybrid power train. “After that, I was asked to buy Lotus for [Chinese automotive conglomerate] Geely. I started there as CFO, then became the interim CEO, overseeing development of the Evija, Emira, and Eletre.”

It was at Lotus that Lee finally crossed paths with Murray. “Gordon had a sketch of what would eventually become the T.50, and asked me what was needed to turn it into a proper business. Gordon Murray Design, as the company was known back then, had done a lot of prototyping work, but not a full model program. I produced a report, which he read carefully and then pushed back across the table at me, saying, ‘Phil, I want you to do this.’ I thought about it for all of three seconds.”

However, the road to success wasn’t a smooth one. “The T.50 was due to be announced in March 2020: exactly when the first wave of Covid hit the U.K.,” Lee continues. “The whole car ended up being designed in people’s living rooms using CAD and networking on [Microsoft] Teams. Without face-to-face interaction, it was a very difficult project.” 

As we step onto a mezzanine overlooking the T.50 production line, all that effort seems worth it. The cars are dotted around in a kaleidoscope of colors, a stark contrast to the gleaming white factory floor. The entire 100-vehicle production run sold out in 48 hours, priced at $3 million each before tax. At the time of my visit, there are 18 still to build before GMA gears up for T.33 assembly in 2026 (with 100 units apiece of the T.33 coupe and Spider also sold out). 

Up close, with its apertures open, the T.50 looks both fabulously exotic and a masterpiece of packaging, somehow squeezing three people, 10.2 cubic feet of luggage space, and a V-12 engine into a footprint similar to a Porsche Boxster. “I’ve done more than 6,000 miles in the T.50 now. It’s very usable,” says Lee. “I even took my children to school in it.” And what about when you take the long route back home? “Many people don’t understand what it’s like to drive a really lightweight car [2,198 pounds without fluids]. The instant torque is incredible—a feeling you only tend to experience in a powerful EV—and revving the engine out to 12,100 rpm is like watching a movie in surround sound. You feel totally at one with the car.”

Lee says most owners genuinely drive their T.50s, too. “The average mileage, so far, is around 2,500 miles a year. We had one client who picked up his car on a Friday, then brought it back here for an initial service the following Monday, having covered 700 miles over the weekend. About half of production has gone to the U.S. It’s by far our biggest market,” mentions Lee.

Stepping into the customer lounge that overlooks the test track—complete with Murray’s choice of pop art on the walls and a vinyl jukebox—it’s clear that buying a T.50 isn’t the work of a moment. The number of color swatches and leather/fabric samples is bewildering. Daunting, even. “Some customers really struggle to make a choice,” admits Lee, showing me an “inspiration book” that provides spec suggestions. “Nothing is off the table,” he adds. 

If you want to make your customized car even more bespoke, GMA offers what it calls “commissions.” These are one-off or ultra-low-volume vehicles, based on either the T.50 or T.33, but with a body designed by the owner or their coachbuilder of choice. Think along the lines of Ferrari’s SP cars, created for its very best customers.

That brings us to the new Special Vehicles venture. “Gordon has a lot of cars in his brain that he wants to make in small numbers,” says Lee. “They won’t wear a GMA badge, though. We have a clear product  strategy that stretches all the way to 2040, and fitting a new car into that would be difficult and disruptive. Having Special Vehicles creates a different route to bring these ideas to market. They will be sports cars, and positioned within the luxury sector, but that’s all I can say for now.”

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One car we already know about is the T.33 Sport, an example of which is tantalizingly hidden beneath a cover. Lee’s original plan was to reveal the car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but uncertainty over stateside trade tariffs has led to a delay. Now the plan is for an invitation-only “soft launch,” revealing the car to key customers first, followed by a public debut, “most likely in 2026.” As per its name, Lee says the Sport offers a “much sportier setup” than a regular T.33, yet is “still very much a road car.”

Soon, we’ll know more about GMA’s presence at Goodwood, which includes being the featured marque on the enormous sculpture that forms a centerpiece for the event. It coincides with the 60th anniversary of Gordon Murray’s career in car design, which spans both motorsport and road vehicles. “Having the central feature will make me so proud,” says Lee. “Our statue will be very different to any that have come before. We’re very keen to talk about the history of the brand, and of Gordon himself.” 

Appropriately enough, we finish with a tour of GMA’s lovingly curated heritage collection. Photos and technical drawings for Murray’s first self-built car, the Lotus 7–based T.1, adorn the walls, while the vehicles on display include his father’s Cooper F3 racer, a Midas kit car with an Alfa Romeo engine, and a classic Maserati motorcycle. There’s also the world’s only surviving Brabham BT44 F1 car, a test mule for the T.50, and a full-size model of the T.50s Niki Lauda. Oh, and another drinks bar, this one containing one of Gordon Murray’s pinball machines. 

“I see this as my last job,” says Lee, somewhat wistfully. “When you’ve worked on something like this from the beginning, it’s a part of you—not just a job, in fact, but a way of life.”

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