McLaren has been talking about an SUV model for many years, and at the end of last year a teaser was released that pointed to such a thing. Now, with the arrival of the new Chief Executive Officer, Michael Leiters, the story could become a reality.
“I developed an SUV at Ferrari. I developed an SUV at Porsche, so I love SUVs. 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,” said Leiters.
With its first SUV, McLaren would join Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini. Given the high demand for SUVs, it would be a good move for a company that has been in a financial crisis for a long time. Leiters was involved in the development of the Porsche Cayenne and Macan, so his experience could play a key role.
McLaren announced that the decision has not been made, but that an SUV is one of the options. McLaren is definitely not capable of doing something like this on its own, so it needs a partner. Rumors say it could be German companies, Audi or BMW. Anyway, technology is one thing and finance is something completely different. “And if you find both in one, that will definitely be the best. But it has to be the right partner. We have to maintain our DNA; I’m not interested in any partner which gives me only ‘me too’ technology. So the question is to find the right partner; the question is not to find a partner,” said Leiters.
Whatever the decision may be, it seems that McLaren has taken small steps towards an SUV. The question remains, will the McLaren SUV be a hybrid or a fully electric car?
Source: Autocar
