McLaren is soon set to move away from its sports car and supercar roots to get more sales, and it’ll follow a familiar path to do so.
Automotive News reports McLaren dealers have been shown plans to launch an SUV by 2028, but it won’t be electric like earlier reports suggested.
Instead, the publication’s sources claim the Ferrari Purosangue-rivalling SUV will be powered by a V8 engine with hybrid assistance, though it won’t be a plug-in hybrid like certain grades of the Porsche Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus.
Reportedly codenamed P47, the McLaren SUV has been described by dealers as “sculpted and muscular”, who added it “has presence and won’t get lost in the exotic SUV segment”.
They told Automotive News the SUV will feature a new McLaren design language with split headlights, while its styling includes a spoiler and splitter.
“It speaks to the heritage of McLaren,” another dealer told the outlet. “They’ve carried a lot of the elements very gracefully into the design of this car.”
While McLaren didn’t respond to Automotive News’ offer to comment on the speculation, recently appointed CEO Nick Collins in September told the UK’s Car magazine that he wanted the brand to offer more than just two-seat models.
“We know – give or take 10 per cent – everything we’ll do through 2030, and we have a design model of everything,” Collins told Car.
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“There will be more of what we’ve always done, but even better, and then entry to some adjacent segments. You’ll definitely see something with more than two seats, but that still leaves us in quite a wide territory. And as I said, even in two-seat territory, we could have a lot more diversity there.”
Previous reports had pointed to the McLaren SUV being an EV, however demand for battery-powered luxury vehicles has slipped in recent years, leading to many rival brands scaling back their future plans.
The SUV could drive a financial turnaround from McLaren, which had struggled in recent years, and earlier this year was taken over by Abu Dhabi ‘advanced mobility’ investment firm CYVN, with the carmaker also merging with British startup Forseven.
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