Will McLaren offer an SUV? That question has been asked many times over the past few years but as of August 2022, the answer is unconvincing. Under the leadership of former McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt, the response was no. Now, Michael Leiters is the boss of the UK-based supercar brand. And his opinion on this issue is not so firm.
Recently spoke to Autocar, Leiters has publicly admitted that he loves SUVs, sees the segment as “interesting” and still growing. However, he also noted that the prospect of a McLaren SUV is still a matter of discussion at the company.
“I developed SUVs at Ferrari, I developed SUVs at Porsche, so I like SUVs,” Leiters said, according to Autocar. “But we won’t do it for me. But I think this is a very important market. What we as McLaren have to understand is, ‘how can we find a product that fits our DNA?’. We shouldn’t have done it. make a classic SUV.”
Of course there is a business case for offering some form of SUV or crossover. Leiters’ former company Porsche continued to see tremendous success with SUVs, with sales of the Cayenne and Macan far exceeding all other Porsche models. combined in 2021. Lamborghini has just celebrated its best half-year sales performance, driven by the Urus which accounts for more than 60 percent of vehicles sold. And of course there’s Ferrari, which is all set to launch its first SUV in just a few weeks.
Rumors of McLaren’s soaring SUV were fanned in part by the automaker live, in December 2021. McLaren debuted as a one-off electric SUV racer made for competition in the Extreme E championship. Earlier this year, we reported on another one. Autocar The story claims that McLaren is already working on an electric SUV, launched in the second half of the decade.
At the very least, we know McLaren’s new CEO is open to the idea of a super SUV. Whether it goes that way, turns into some kind of super crossover, or disappears completely, remains to be seen.
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