- McLaren’s working on a practical vehicle that can hold more than two occupants
- Both two- and four-door body styles are on the table
- McLaren might make an SUV, but it would be more Ferrari Purosangue than Lamborghini Urus in style
McLaren is working on a more practical vehicle than the low-slung supercars it’s known for, a vehicle CEO Michael Leiters has previously referred to as a “shared performance vehicle,” because it will be big enough to share its performance with multiple passengers.
Although the description would fit body styles like a 2+2 coupe or even a sedan, McLaren is expected to join rivals Ferrari and Lamborghini by launching an SUV, a lucrative segment that’s simply too hard to ignore for a cash-strapped automaker like McLaren.
Lamborghini’s Urus sells almost the same number of units as the supercars combined. Demand for Ferrari’s Purosangue has also been strong, though Ferrari limits production to no more than 20% of total sales to maintain exclusivity, something McLaren will likely also do.
In an interview with Carscoops published on Sunday, Piers Scott, McLaren’s head of global communications provided a few more details on the automaker’s potential SUV. He said McLaren is still exploring body styles and that both two- and four-door options are under consideration.
2025 McLaren Artura Spider
Scott also reaffirmed previous comments from Leiters that McLaren will likely source a platform for the shared performance vehicle from another automaker, and said a decision could be made by the end of this year. Ensuring the platform meets McLaren’s standards and can accommodate changes McLaren may want to make are vital, he said.
In his interview with Carscoops, Scott said oft-rumored partner BMW was an option for the platform. BMW famously lent the V-12 engine for McLaren’s F1 supercar, and in more recent years has supplied batteries for McLaren’s Artura plug-in hybrid supercar. The shared performance vehicle will likely also be a plug-in hybrid, though McLaren would look to use its own powertrain, according to previous comments from Leiters.
Scott in his Carscoops interview also said an electric powertrain was an option, though downplayed the chances, at least in the near to medium term, due to a lack of demand. In the longer term, an electric SUV may make sense and that a platform sourced from an Asian supplier was possible, he said.
An electric supercar may also be in McLaren’s longer-term future. Although Leiters has previously said battery technology won’t be ready for a high-performance vehicle like a supercar until the end of the decade, in a statement released on Tuesday, the McLaren CEO called for action from the U.K. government to help establish local manufacturing of power-dense battery cells that could go into an electric supercar.
