First McLaren SUV another step closer

McLaren’s search for the perfect partner to help develop the firm’s first SUV is moving forward in earnest, but company officials say the project remains dependent on a suitor that won’t compete with its ground-breaking battery-electric crossover.

After saying it would never produce an SUV in 2019, news of an electric McLaren SUV surfaced in mid-2022, before McLaren confirmed it was studying its first SUV in August 2022.

Speaking at the launch of the new McLaren 750S this week, global communications director Piers Scott said the British car-maker had identified several potential partners for the highly-touted SUV project, which is being spearheaded by chief executive Michael Leiters – the same man who oversaw development of the Ferrari Purosangue SUV.

“There are potential suitors, but I cannot name them I’m afraid,” said Scott, who cautioned that any SUV development partner could not be a competitor.

“They would have to be a very compatible partner on a number of levels, both in terms of technology and brand, avoiding any potential cannibalisations, so therefore not competing for the same segments.

“It’s quite a precise set of requirements and if we couldn’t meet them then we wouldn’t do it.

“As a broad statement, we have been reassessing entirely our business plan and strategy – a very deep dive across our executive team about what is the best way to play all of what we’ve talked about.

“We have developed a really loyal brand base, but we want to expand that and make sure we make the right product.”

McLaren officials say they would walk away from the project if it cannot live up to the company’s hallmarks of light-weight, performance, technical innovation and quality.

Chief technical officer Charles Sanderson said the four-door, four-seat project wouldn’t evolve beyond “an intent to explore” unless McLaren can find the right suitor.

“It’s quite obvious to say that all our competitors have leaned on an incremental product in recent years,” Sanderson said. “So if someone buys a McLaren two-seater, what do they buy next? In many cases, there’s not another product that we have that allows that incremental purchase and brings the McLaren brand to something broader.

“CEO Michael Leiter has made a pretty public statement in saying we are interested in doing that and I think it’s clear that we don’t have expertise in doing a four-seater vehicle up to now. So we need to put something things in place to make that happen.”

Scott added: “A pure EV supercar that’s core to our brand DNA – we could deliver that entirely in-house. When we’ve been looking at what we’ve called a shared performance vehicle, we are very open to talking to other OEMs or potential technology partners in order to deliver such a vehicle.”

Sanderson said the four-seat McLaren would likely come with a pure EV powertrain, given the current direction of emissions legislation.

“I think it probably needs to be all-electric, but we are genuinely open. We are exploring every avenue on that front,” he said.

The finished product would also need to major on engineering and build quality, which McLaren has been intent on addressing with its latest models including the Artura and the 750S.

“Historically, McLaren has struggled to deliver consistent quality and in market it’s been one of the hardest things to be consistent around. Therefore it affects all sorts of things including residual value,” Sanderson conceded.

“Everything we release now is literally gated for quality in a way that we never did before. We will not go through a station until it has solved all its quality concerns.

“In the past, we would let it roll through to the end of the production line, we would fix some stuff and it would get overlooked. It would end up at the dealership and we’d be trying to fix things – and occasionally it would end up with a customer having faults.

“It cannot be about that. All the typical quality items – gap and flush, for instance – are being addressed. The capability of the design is where it starts,” he said.

Digital images: Kolesa.ru

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