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McLaren Will NEVER Make An SUV Says CEO

GOOD NEWS! It has been confirmed that McLaren will not be following the recent trend of producing a cash cow SUV. But what does that mean for McLaren?

An SUV is looking to be a necessary evil for a performance manufacturer. The thing is, SUVs sell, and therefore produce large amounts of cash for the company to pour into making their next supercar. Look at Porsche for example. Their Cayenne and Macan paved the way and laid down the investment needed for faster 911s and the 918. Without the SUV, we wouldn’t have these incredible cars.

Ferrari and Lamborghini are also jumping on the bandwagon, but it’s a fact we must accept if we want these companies to continue moving forward.

McLaren however are doing no such thing.

“There’s more than enough SUVs in the world,” McLaren boss Mike Flewitt told TopGear.com, “and we don’t need another one. That’s sort of the flippant side.”

“So, the brand: an SUV is only going to dilute the McLaren brand. Our brand and heritage is motorsport and great drivers’ cars. SUVs are great, they have their place, but they’re not great drivers’ cars. They utterly dilute the driving experience so it makes no sense,” he says.

With diplomacy, he ensures that on a personal level he sees nothing wrong with SUVs, they simply don’t suit the McLaren brand.

“Nothing wrong with them,” Flewitt said, “but we don’t have a technology set that suits an SUV, so we’d be starting from scratch.

“And we’re not arrogant to think we can go up against the Range Rovers and Cayennes of this world with a better can than them overnight,” he said.

The fact that he recognises there are already incredible SUVs already on the market is a good sign. Not only is he well aware of the industry, but he admits that they are big brands to compete against. Plus the fact that they have years of experience behind their cars.

He also makes the point that financially it wouldn’t be a good idea for McLaren. They would have to start from scratch which means investing in the technology and research to produce an SUV. Therefore they wouldn’t make any money out of it.

“After all that, why the hell would we do this? The customers love what we do,” Flewitt said.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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