McLaren has eschewed the trend to deliver a ‘Supercar SUV’ so far, but it looks like it’s now seriously under consideration.
Panned by Porsche anoraks, that first Cayenne was a far from good-looking SUV, but it had real Porsche DNA and performance and managed to deliver an SUV which really did drive and handle on road more like a big hot hatch than a cumbersome 4×4. And it could do proper off-roading too.
Since then, the Cayenne – together with its smaller Macan sibling – has gone on to be the mainstay of Porsche’s sales, delivering big profits to fund iconic models like the 911.
Since then, just about every high-end sports car maker – and ‘Premium’ maker – has bowed to the inevitable and delivered an SUV to market, from Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Bentley to Rolls-Royce and even Ferrari. Although Ferrari’s Purosangue is more of a high-riding crossover.
One outlier in the push to deliver a supercar SUV has been McLaren, stubbornly declaring that an SUV would dilute the brand. But it looks like that could now be changing.
Amid financial woes and sell-offs, McLaren looks to be finally facing reality, with McLaren’s director of product strategy, Jamie Corstorphine, telling Automotive News:
The most important thing is to provide a [vehicle] that has more space or ability for a McLaren customer to share the experience with more people. How high-riding it is, whether it’s a crossover … that’s to be decided and in fact, nothing is set at this point. If we’re going to do anything, whether it’s this type of product, or any other type of product, the test for us is, can we accurately reflect the DNA of McLaren?
McLaren has had a bit of a play with high-riding SUVs (electric buggies) with its foray into Extreme E off-road (pictured above) although with a ‘standard’ electric buggy, not a McLaren-developed one.
Although it sounds like a McLaren SUV is still someway off, it’s an admission that it will have to happen, sooner rather than later, if McLaren is to survive.
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