- McLaren is working on a practical vehicle that can accommodate more than two occupants
- Both two- and four-door body styles are on the table
- McLaren can make an SUV, but it would be more Ferrari Purosangue than Lamborghini Urus in style
McLaren is working on a more practical vehicle than the low-slung supercars it is known for, a vehicle that CEO Michael Leiters previously called “shared performance vehicle”, because it will be large enough to share its performance with several passengers.
While the description fits body styles like a 2+2 coupe or even a sedan, McLaren is expected to join rivals Ferrari and Lamborghini in launching a SUVa profitable segment that is simply too difficult to ignore for a cashless automaker like McLaren.
Lamborghini’s Urus sells almost as many units as supercars combined. Demand for Ferrari thoroughbred has also been strong, although Ferrari limits production to no more than 20% of total sales to maintain exclusivity, something McLaren is also likely to do.
In an interview with Cars published on Sunday, Piers Scott, McLaren’s head of global communications, provided some more details about the SUV potential. He said McLaren is still exploring body styles and that two- and four-door options are being considered.
![2025 McLaren Artura Aranha 2025 McLaren Artura Aranha](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2025-mclaren-artura-spider_100932990_l.webp.webp)
2025 McLaren Artura Aranha
Scott also reaffirmed previous comments from Leiters that McLaren would likely acquire a platform for the shared performance vehicle from another carmaker, and said a decision could be made by the end of this year. Ensuring the platform meets McLaren’s standards and can accommodate any changes McLaren wants to make is vital, he said.
In his interview with Carscoops, Scott said the oft-commented partner BMW it was an option for the platform. BMW lent its famous V-12 engine to McLaren’s F1 supercar and in more recent years has supplied batteries for McLaren’s Artura plug-in hybrid supercar. The shared performance vehicle will also likely be a plug-in hybrid, although McLaren will look to use its own powertrain, according to previous comments from Leiters.
Scott, in his interview with Carscoops, also said that an electric powertrain was an option, although he downplayed the chances, at least in the short to medium term, due to a lack of demand. In the long term, an electric SUV may make sense and a platform sourced from an Asian supplier is possible, he said.
An electric supercar could also be in McLaren’s long-term future. Although Leiters has previously said that battery technology won’t be ready for a high-performance vehicle like a supercar until the end of the decadeIn a statement released on Tuesday, McLaren’s CEO called for action from the UK government to help establish local manufacturing of high-energy density battery cells that could go into an electric supercar.