540C
Mclaren · on record 2015 to 2025
The McLaren 540C was the entry model in the company's Sports Series, using a carbon fibre structure and mid mounted twin turbo V8 in a specification intended to be more approachable for road use. It offered supercar construction and performance at a lower point in the McLaren range. UK examples are relatively uncommon, and the model now represents the accessible end of McLaren's first large expansion in production.
ENDANGERED
Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.
68
licensed vehicles
2025 census
2025 census
85.0% of the peak fleet remains licensed
19
declared SORN
total surviving
peak 80 in 2021 · −3 vehicles a year, five year trend
Population history
Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.
Licensed
SORN
Latest census observation
At the average decline recorded over the latest five years, the licensed fleet would reach zero around 2050.
Illustrative projection only; vehicle populations rarely decline linearly. Late fleets typically flatten as surviving examples enter preservation.
Inside the surviving fleet
AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.
First registrations by year
When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.
New registrations
Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.
MOT reliability
DVSA test results for this family, 2019 to 2025.
Pass rate by year
| Failure reason | Failures | Share of all tests |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible brake hose slightly damaged, chafed or twisted | 4 | 4.5% |
| A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened | 4 | 4.5% |
| A tyre cords visible or damaged | 3 | 3.4% |
| Brakes imbalance across an axle such that the braking effort from any wheel is less than 70% of the maximum effort recorded from the other wheel on the same axle. | 1 | 1.1% |
Counted across every recorded test, 2019 to 2025. Advisories are excluded.
Where the 540C remains
Based on MOT test locations, 2025. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.
| Postcode area | Vehicles tested | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| SO | 2 | 50% |
| B | 1 | 100% |
| IV | 1 | 100% |
| NR | 1 | 100% |
How this record was calculated
LATEST CENSUS2025
POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual
HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013
MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2025
FAMILY DEFINITIONMCLAREN 540C
PROCESSED20 Sep 2026
Full methodology
Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.
Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.
MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.