McLaren is known for many things. Their multi-skilled Kiwi founder Bruce McLaren… their impressive record in Formula 1… and over the past few decades, building some of the most engaging sports cars on the planet. It doesn’t matter what vehicle wore Bruce’s surname — every McLaren has “lightweight” and “performance” at the top of its priorities.
So it comes as no surprise that McLaren has famously refused to bend the knee to the SUV craze, with former McLaren boss, Mike Flewitt, having previously stated: “An SUV is only going to dilute the McLaren brand. Our brand and heritage is motorsport and great drivers’ cars. SUVs are great, they have their place, but they’re not great drivers’ cars.”
“They utterly dilute the driving experience so it makes no sense.”
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While Flewitt was reluctant to follow the footsteps of Porsche, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin, the new McLaren CEO – and former Ferrari technical chief – Michael Leiters has suggested that he’s a little more open to the idea.
“I developed an SUV at Ferrari. I developed an SUV at Porsche. So I love SUVs,” said Michael Leiters.
“But we won’t do it for me. Yet I think it’s a really important market… It still is, and it continues to grow. It’s very attractive as a market segment.”
Leiters was heavily involved in developing the Porsche Cayenne and Ferrari’s upcoming Purosangue, meaning the proof of his success is in the sales pudding. 2021 was Porsche’s most successful year in the company’s history, with the Porsche Macan and Cayenne making up more than half of its 300,000 sales compared to just 38,464 for the legendary 911.
With McLaren’s transition to electrified vehicles well underway, we would predict that a McLaren SUV later this decade would most likely be fully electric and aim to be the lightest and (possibly) deliver the lowest centre of gravity in the sports-SUV segment.
