McLaren Definitely Won’t Build an SUV, Says CEO

These days, it seems like every automaker either sells or plans to sell an SUV. From Rolls-Royce and Bentley to Ferrari, Lamborghini, and even Lotus, no brand is safe. Well, except for one. Unless something changes, it sounds like McLaren has no intention of ever building an SUV.

Speaking with Automotive News, CEO Mike Flewitt made it clear that McLaren won’t get in on the high-performance crossover trend. “I’m not against SUVs,” he said. “They are just not what McLaren does.” But instead of leaving it at that, Flewitt continued, giving a more in-depth explanation of why that’s the case.

“When we decide to do a product there are three simple tests: It has to be right for the brand and right for the customer base, we’ve got to have the technology to do the best car in class, and we’ve got to make money,” Flewitt said. “An SUV starts to reduce the purity of the brand as a supercar driver’s brand. Secondly, we don’t have the technology. Can you imagine from a standing start if we wanted to go out and do a better car than a Range Rover, or a Cayenne — the billions we’d have to invest? Third, therefore, is we wouldn’t make any money. So it doesn’t tick any box.”

That said, Flewitt doesn’t feel the same way about electric vehicles. He’s said for a while that McLaren will eventually build an electric supercar, but first, there needs to be some serious advances in battery technology.

“A McLaren EV has got to be usable,” he told Automotive News. “It shouldn’t be that we offer a powertrain solution that compromises. It won’t just be lower emissions, it’ll be a better sports car. We’ve set ourselves half an hour full-on track use. You need to be able to do that without recharge, and when you come in and recharge it needs to recharge in 30 minutes.”

According to Flewitt, that probably won’t be possible for another seven years or so. “As it stands at the moment,” he said, “we don’t think the battery technology will be ready until 2025 to give us what we want in terms of performance.”

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)

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