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We've been seeing a recent proliferation at the very top end of the SUV sector, with even Ferrari closing in on the popular four-door body style to rake in levels of revenue never once matched by the low-slung supercars these automakers are traditionally known for. Despite hefty price tags nearing half a million dollars, upper-crust buyers simply adore these high-riding machines, to an extent that Lamborghini has collected enough cash to develop new supercars completely on its own, and Bentley was able to crest the 15,000 mark for annual sales for the first time ever back in 2021.
Often, these companies won't admit that they're producing SUVs, instead giving credit to strange pseudonyms. And McLaren is soon set to join them with what it calls a "shared performance vehicle," or "SPV," which disguises what is in fact the brand's long-awaited SUV.
McLaren has long been reluctant to go beyond its current batch of two-door monsters, but with a series of failed product launches and drops in revenue plaguing the British automaker in recent years, an SUV is exactly what the company needs to bring in the real money and get things back on track. And with an ambitious Michael Leiters taking the reigns as new CEO after serving as the head of technology at Ferrari, the flowing revenue streams provided by an SUV are getting ever harder to resist. After all, it's an easy fix for the horrifying $1.1 billion in losses reported by the company last year, and a way to make buyers forget about stagnant sales for the McLaren GT, embarrassingly slow demand for the limited-production Elva, and repeated delays that have held back the Artura plug-in hybrid.
Road & Track recently sat down with Leiters to discuss what lies ahead for the company, and he insisted that supercars will remain central to the company's lineup. "We have had a very difficult year, and difficult years in the past, and we want to become a sustainable company," the new CEO said. "This is based on the segment we are in today—so supercars and ultimate cars. That is what our first focus is."
Notice that supercars are the company's first focus. The future holds much more than that––namely an SUV.
"To unlock our full potential as a company, we believe there is a second stage to enlarge and expand our lineup beyond the segment where we are today," Leiters added. "We have called this ‘shared performance,’ because you can share the performance with more people than you can have in a McLaren today."
Just like Ferrari and many others, Leiters is noticeably reluctant to utter the word 'SUV.' Perhaps it's because his predecessor, Mike Flewitt, insisted multiple times that the company would not build an SUV. Or maybe McLaren simply doesn't want to risk staining its supercar image with a high-class version of what families use to get their kids to school. Regardless, McLaren is finally producing an SUV––but it won't do that alone.
Leiters stated that the McLaren SUV will not be fully electric, as earlier rumors had speculated, but instead it will follow the lead of the Artura supercar and take the form of a plug-in hybrid. But precisely where that engine will sit is when things get interesting. "If we do a PHEV, we want to understand if we can use our own powertrain," he continued. "To integrate our powertrain into an existing platform—that would be the ideal world."
In other words, McLaren wants to spare itself the work of creating an entirely new platform, and instead it wants to base its SUV on an existing platform from another automaker. Then, one of McLaren's own hybrid powertrains will be dropped into the engine bay––it will either be the Artura's hybrid V6 or a larger V8 that's currently under development for the 750S successor.
But who exactly could McLaren team up with to make its dream a reality? BMW appears to be a likely candidate, as Leiters has mentioned its name in the past, and the German automaker already has a modular platform used for the XM that accommodates a plug-in hybrid V8. Simply swap out that powertrain for McLaren's own eight-cylinder and fix up the styling, and you'll have the ideal "SPV."
Well, it won't quite be that simple.
BMW or not, McLaren plans to take the donor platform and make some extensive changes of its own, including structural adjustments to bring weight down. After all, buyers will be paying for a McLaren, not just a restyled BMW XM with a British V8. "The core attribute of a McLaren is lightweight. . . . We have world-class competence we could bring into a partnership, even talking about structural elements of a platform," Leiters said.
As for pricing, it's going to be eye-watering. According to Leiters, the company is eyeing something around $400,000, which would pit the McLaren SUV directly against the likes of the Ferrari Purosangue and Rolls-Royce Cullinan, though much like those two vehicles, it would also be considerably pricier than the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus.
As much as McLaren would like to hide the reality of its upcoming crossover under the safety of the "SPV" pseudonym, such a vehicle will change its lineup forever. But considering the profit this thing could earn for the company, it will undoubtedly be a change for the better.
Image Credits: McLaren
Future Cars
Jun 20, 2024
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Yes, McLaren Does Have An SUV In The Works, But It Won't Call It That
The automaker would prefer that you call its upcoming SUV a "shared performance vehicle."
We've been seeing a recent proliferation at the very top end of the SUV sector, with even Ferrari closing in on the popular four-door body style to rake in levels of revenue never once matched by the low-slung supercars these automakers are traditionally known for. Despite hefty price tags nearing half a million dollars, upper-crust buyers simply adore these high-riding machines, to an extent that Lamborghini has collected enough cash to develop new supercars completely on its own, and Bentley was able to crest the 15,000 mark for annual sales for the first time ever back in 2021.
Often, these companies won't admit that they're producing SUVs, instead giving credit to strange pseudonyms. And McLaren is soon set to join them with what it calls a "shared performance vehicle," or "SPV," which disguises what is in fact the brand's long-awaited SUV.
McLaren has long been reluctant to go beyond its current batch of two-door monsters, but with a series of failed product launches and drops in revenue plaguing the British automaker in recent years, an SUV is exactly what the company needs to bring in the real money and get things back on track. And with an ambitious Michael Leiters taking the reigns as new CEO after serving as the head of technology at Ferrari, the flowing revenue streams provided by an SUV are getting ever harder to resist. After all, it's an easy fix for the horrifying $1.1 billion in losses reported by the company last year, and a way to make buyers forget about stagnant sales for the McLaren GT, embarrassingly slow demand for the limited-production Elva, and repeated delays that have held back the Artura plug-in hybrid.
Road & Track recently sat down with Leiters to discuss what lies ahead for the company, and he insisted that supercars will remain central to the company's lineup. "We have had a very difficult year, and difficult years in the past, and we want to become a sustainable company," the new CEO said. "This is based on the segment we are in today—so supercars and ultimate cars. That is what our first focus is."
Notice that supercars are the company's first focus. The future holds much more than that––namely an SUV.
"To unlock our full potential as a company, we believe there is a second stage to enlarge and expand our lineup beyond the segment where we are today," Leiters added. "We have called this ‘shared performance,’ because you can share the performance with more people than you can have in a McLaren today."
Just like Ferrari and many others, Leiters is noticeably reluctant to utter the word 'SUV.' Perhaps it's because his predecessor, Mike Flewitt, insisted multiple times that the company would not build an SUV. Or maybe McLaren simply doesn't want to risk staining its supercar image with a high-class version of what families use to get their kids to school. Regardless, McLaren is finally producing an SUV––but it won't do that alone.
Leiters stated that the McLaren SUV will not be fully electric, as earlier rumors had speculated, but instead it will follow the lead of the Artura supercar and take the form of a plug-in hybrid. But precisely where that engine will sit is when things get interesting. "If we do a PHEV, we want to understand if we can use our own powertrain," he continued. "To integrate our powertrain into an existing platform—that would be the ideal world."
In other words, McLaren wants to spare itself the work of creating an entirely new platform, and instead it wants to base its SUV on an existing platform from another automaker. Then, one of McLaren's own hybrid powertrains will be dropped into the engine bay––it will either be the Artura's hybrid V6 or a larger V8 that's currently under development for the 750S successor.
But who exactly could McLaren team up with to make its dream a reality? BMW appears to be a likely candidate, as Leiters has mentioned its name in the past, and the German automaker already has a modular platform used for the XM that accommodates a plug-in hybrid V8. Simply swap out that powertrain for McLaren's own eight-cylinder and fix up the styling, and you'll have the ideal "SPV."
Well, it won't quite be that simple.
BMW or not, McLaren plans to take the donor platform and make some extensive changes of its own, including structural adjustments to bring weight down. After all, buyers will be paying for a McLaren, not just a restyled BMW XM with a British V8. "The core attribute of a McLaren is lightweight. . . . We have world-class competence we could bring into a partnership, even talking about structural elements of a platform," Leiters said.
As for pricing, it's going to be eye-watering. According to Leiters, the company is eyeing something around $400,000, which would pit the McLaren SUV directly against the likes of the Ferrari Purosangue and Rolls-Royce Cullinan, though much like those two vehicles, it would also be considerably pricier than the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus.
As much as McLaren would like to hide the reality of its upcoming crossover under the safety of the "SPV" pseudonym, such a vehicle will change its lineup forever. But considering the profit this thing could earn for the company, it will undoubtedly be a change for the better.
Image Credits: McLaren
