McLaren Automotive said its profit before tax fell by 64 per cent to £5.4 million ($7.13 million) in 2015 from £14.9 million ($19.6 million) the previous year, but that it was on course to nearly double its sales this year.

The British sports and supercar manufacturer revealed the news as it celebrated the fifth anniversary of the first car rolling off the production line.

The result marked McLaren’s third successive year of profitability and came from revenues of £450.6 million ($595 million), with revenue projected to increase by 50 per cent over the next two years and double by the end of 2022.

2015 also marked the fifth successive year of increasing global car sales to a record 1,654 cars, supported by the launch of no less than five new models, and McLaren said it expected to sell more than 3,000 cars in 2016.

The annual report also confirms an equity transaction of £49 million ($65 million), representing a total of 6.3 per cent investment in McLaren Automotive from McKal.

With a total of five new cars launched, and the unveiling of the Sports Series, Super Series and Ultimate Series product families, 2015 was an unprecedented year of growth, McLaren said.

It was also a transition year with the final McLaren P1 produced at the same time as the start of production of the new Sports Series models.

The Geneva Motor Show in March 2015 saw the revival of the famous Long Tail name from McLaren’s illustrious motor racing history with the introduction of the limited-volume McLaren 675LT Coupé in the Super Series. The Coupé was joined in December by a Spider variant. Like the Coupé, the Spider is limited to 500 cars and was sold out in just two weeks.

Following on from the McLaren P1, the Geneva Motor Show in March 2015 also saw the introduction of the track-only McLaren P1 GTR designed as the ultimate track car.

The reveal of the new Sports Series at the New York Autoshow in April 2015 was a pivotal moment in the short history of McLaren Automotive. Charged with more than doubling the company’s global sales volume in the coming years, the McLaren 570S Coupé was launched in New York and was followed by the McLaren 540C Coupé at the Shanghai Autoshow in April. The 570GT was added to the Sports Series family at the Geneva Motorshow in March 2016.

In 2016, the Sports Series should support the overall company sales growth to a volume of more than 3,000 cars, it said.

McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer Mike Flewitt said: ‘2015 was a critical year in the development of McLaren Automotive. The launch of the Sports Series opens McLaren up to an entirely new audience and will be pivotal in developing our sales volumes from the 2015 levels of 1,600 to nearly triple that number by 2020. For this to be achievable, we need to remain profitable but also continue to invest in our future product portfolio. In 2015, this amounted to £124 million, nearly 30 per cent of revenues. This level of commitment to investing in future products is core to our business strategy, as highlighted by the recently-announced Track22 business plan that commits us to investing £1 billion ($1.32 billion) in research and development, delivering no less than 15 all-new cars or derivatives by 2022.”