It’s easy to throw stones at Porsche for coming out with the Cayenne and Macan, but look at where Zuffenhausen’s home is now. The company is growing rapidly and has the means to continue to fund the 911 and work on the new 718. Lamborghini is better than ever thanks mainly to its Urus, while Ferrari has a bright future considering that Purosangue is already a huge success. Purists hate SUVs, but where are so many high-end brands without them?
That brings us to McLaren. The folks from Woking don’t own their own SUV, which partly explains why the British supercar marque isn’t at its best financially. Quality issues also negatively impact company performance, but it’s safe to say that high-end models will please accountants. The good news is that more practical vehicles are being considered. The bad news is that it will take a while.
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In an interview with Automotive NewsMcLaren director of product strategy Jamie Corstorphine briefly spoke about the SUV’s potential: “The most important thing is to provide [vehicle] which has more space or ability for McLaren customers to share their experiences with more people. How high it rides, is it a crossover… that has to be decided and in fact, nothing is set in stone at this point. If we’re going to do something, whether it’s this type of product, or any other type of product, the test for us is, can we accurately reflect McLaren’s DNA?”
The statement tells us that it will be a long time before McLaren catches up to the Aston Martin DBX and co. An SUV represents a 180 degree turn compared to the days when Mike Flewitt was CEO. He insisted there shouldn’t have been, but his successor Michael Leiters saw things differently. You can only go so far with many supercars and hypercars because the smart money is in the SUV segment, even at the risk of diluting the brand.
