Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini and even Porsche – these are just a few of the brands in the performance/luxury/exotic car segment that now have SUV models in their lineup. McLaren, meanwhile, is one of the few marques in the world that still hasn’t sold a more practical, uplifted vehicle. Rumors of the company’s first SUV have been circulating the web for years now, but apparently, it won’t arrive before McLaren finalizes its other, more important plans first.
McLaren CEO Michael Leiters attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend where he spoke Car about the automaker’s short and medium term plans. Leiters sees two objectives as McLaren’s most important mission with higher priority than launching an SUV – reorganization and recapitalization. Ultimately, McLaren wants to get back “on the right path to profitability”.
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“If we are on the right path for profitability, we will think about expanding across all segments. We call this ‘co-performance’. A shared performance can be anything that has more than two doors and/or more than two seats,” said Leiters Carhinted that there could be other new models joining, but they’re not coming any time soon.
Earlier this year, during McLaren’s global dealer meeting in April, company executives spoke about the future products the brand has planned. At the time, the automaker told conference attendees to “look forward to” a new class of four-seat, four-door vehicle in 2028. This timeline lines up with what Leiters told British publication FoS, giving us another hint that McLaren won’t be launching. Its first SUV before 2028.
“This is what we will think about later. We don’t make decisions about that. This is definitely a business opportunity for us. But I don’t see that any time soon. If you consider what I said – recapitalization and then profitability plus development time – it’s not going to happen before 2028.”
If we had to summarize, it sounds like McLaren likes the idea of an SUV – they just don’t want to rush into launching it before they reach a more stable financial situation. The supercar brand’s CEO admitted in a past interview that he loves SUVs so it’s more likely a ‘when’ issue than an ‘if’ issue.
