Is McLaren Making An SUV? Here's What We Know

McLaren has consistently focused on high-performance supercars, delivering the ultimate experience for competitive motorsport drivers and everyday drivers alike. Due to this emphasis on sports cars, McLaren hasn't ventured into the SUV market before, but recent developments suggest the company could be heading in that direction.

In December 2024, Abu Dhabi's CYVN Holdings acquired McLaren and reports suggest that it plans to merge it with the UK-based electric vehicle startup Forseven. This move would leverage the McLaren brand for a new lineup of vehicles, possibly an SUV, while continuing the production of supercars. Considering Forseven's tech agreement with Chinese EV manufacturer Nio, it's plausible that any new McLaren SUV will be electric.

McLaren CEO Michael Leiters alluded to the new SUV in a June 2024 Road & Track interview, though he used a different term to describe it. "We have called this shared performance," Leiters said, "because you can share the performance with more people than you can have in a McLaren today."

After earning its elite reputation as a high performance sports car manufacturer, McLaren could be on the verge of producing its first ever electric SUV. However, this new SUV could be very different from what potential buyers may expect.

Rumors of a two-door McLaren hybrid SUV made the rounds in 2024, along with speculation that the company could partner with BMW to make the new vehicle a reality. That partnership would have made sense, given the companies' history, as BMW previously supplied the battery for the McLaren Artura. 

McLaren's current willingness to even consider an SUV, electric or not, is a far cry from its previous stance on the subject. McLaren chief of design Mark Roberts claimed as recently as 2019 that the company would not produce an SUV, due to its commitment to a no-compromise driving experience. That statement came soon after former CEO Mike Flewitt's comments that McLaren should remain a sports car brand.