What It Is An SUV, but don’t call it that. McLaren prefers the term “shared performance vehicle” because you can share the supercar-on-stilts experience with more than just one passenger. It will be a first for the British company, which has only ever made two-door exotics and has sworn off SUVs in the past. We expect it to be aimed squarely at the Ferrari Purosangue, the other not-SUV in the conversation, rather than the honest and straightforward Aston Martin DBX and Lamborghini Urus, which are definitely SUVs.

Why It Matters McLaren needs to make more money, ASAP. After years of poor sales, financial struggles, and multiple ownership changes, the company is finally ready to concede its anti-SUV stance and follow the model pioneered by Porsche nearly a quarter-century ago. If successful, the SUV would sell in much higher volumes than the other McLarens and in turn fund the supercars’ continuing existence.

Platform and Powertrain The powerplant is the easiest part of the equation. CEO Michael Leiters has already said it’ll be one of McLaren’s existing engines, which would mean either the twin-turbo V-8 or twin-turbo V-6 hybrid, though we’re skeptical the latter would fit between the front wheels because it was designed for mid-engine use and is much wider than a typical V-6. He has also suggested he’d like to make the SPV a plug-in hybrid, and it’s believed the next generation of McLaren’s V-8 is already going to be a PHEV.

The platform is a much harder question. Leiters says he wants to work with partners and, ideally, put a McLaren powertrain in someone else’s platform. It’s possible McLaren could do the whole thing in-house, but that’s more expensive. Who the company would partner with is harder to say. BMW has been floated, as the companies have worked together in the past, but the rest of the German auto industry has been floated, too, at one point or another.

The elephant in the room is Forseven, the British advanced mobility startup that’s been merged into McLaren by their shared parent company CYVN Holdings. Forseven has yet to announce a product or even a category of vehicle, but prior to the merger it was working on an electric SUV. The company also has a licensing deal for Chinese EV automaker Nio’s technology, courtesy of CYVN’s heavy investment in that company.

Our rendering operates from the assumption McLaren will integrate its hybrid and or PHEV powertrains into the SUV platform Forseven has been developing, possibly using battery and electric motor technology from Nio. Doing it all in-house would allow McLaren to better meet Leiters’ stated goal of keeping the weight as low as possible and make it easier to design an SUV that looks like a McLaren (as seen in our rendering), rather than forcing McLaren’s unique styling language onto some existing SUV.

Estimated Price $400,000

Expected On-Sale Date 2028