McLaren will launch its first performance SUV as part of a £500 million expansion of its UK manufacturing operations, creating at least 1,000 jobs by 2032 — but the British supercar maker says its customers still are not asking for a fully electric model.
McLaren is preparing for one of the biggest changes in its road-car history, confirming its first performance SUV alongside a £500 million investment in UK manufacturing and engineering.
The programme will expand McLaren beyond the low-volume two-seat supercars for which it is best known, while adding new British assembly capacity and bringing more powertrain development and production in-house.
Yet one part of McLaren’s future remains notably absent: a fully electric car.
Despite the wider premium-car market continuing to electrify — and McLaren’s own merger with British EV start-up Forseven — chief executive Nick Collins says the company currently sees insufficient customer demand to justify launching a battery-electric McLaren. Reuters reports that McLaren’s immediate strategy is centred on expansion, hybrids and greater control over its UK manufacturing base.
McLaren’s first SUV is officially happening
An SUV has been discussed around McLaren for some time, but the company has now moved beyond speculation and confirmed the vehicle as part of its future product expansion.
It will be McLaren’s first SUV and first four-door model, taking the company into a market already occupied by performance-focused machines including the Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX and Ferrari Purosangue.
McLaren has not yet confirmed a name, launch date or detailed specification.
However, the Financial Times reports that the new model will use a hybrid powertrain, fitting with McLaren’s stated intention to continue developing combustion engines alongside electrification rather than moving immediately to battery-only cars.
That makes the new vehicle a substantial departure from McLaren’s traditional formula without completely abandoning it.
The challenge will be making a larger, more practical four-door vehicle feel convincingly like a McLaren rather than simply attaching the badge to another luxury SUV.
£500 million investment expands UK manufacturing
The SUV forms part of a much wider £500 million programme covering McLaren’s UK engineering and manufacturing operations.
A new vehicle-assembly facility is planned, although its final location has not yet been announced. McLaren will also expand its existing operations, including its Woking manufacturing base and UK carbon-fibre capabilities.
The programme is expected to create at least 1,000 jobs within and around McLaren by 2032, with around another 3,000 roles expected across the wider supply chain.
That comes at a time when the wider UK car industry is becoming increasingly dependent on electrified models even as overall output remains under pressure. Tech Torque Media recently reported that UK electrified car production rose 6.8% while total vehicle output fell.
For McLaren, the investment reinforces its intention to keep the design, engineering and manufacture of future vehicles centred in Britain while broadening the range beyond traditional supercars.
McLaren is bringing more powertrain work in-house
Arguably just as significant as the SUV is what will happen underneath future McLarens.
McLaren plans to bring engine development and production in-house while expanding its transmission capability, giving the company greater control over the systems that define how its future cars perform.
Autocar reports that the first programmes will include two new combustion engines with associated gearboxes, supporting McLaren’s continued hybrid strategy.
That should give the company more freedom to differentiate future models technically, while allowing powertrain development to sit more closely alongside vehicle engineering and production.
Hybrid technology is expected to remain central to that strategy.
McLaren already has extensive experience with electrified performance cars, from the P1 to the Artura and current W1, whose high-performance hybrid system combines a V8 engine with an electric module. McLaren’s official W1 page outlines that approach.
But McLaren isn’t ready for a full EV
The most interesting part of the announcement from an electrification perspective is what McLaren isn’t planning.
Collins told Reuters that McLaren currently has no plans to launch a full EV because its customers are not requesting one.
The company has the technical capability to develop an electric vehicle, particularly following its combination with Forseven, but says customer demand will determine when that happens rather than electrification being pursued simply because rivals are doing it.
That puts McLaren on a different timetable from several other premium manufacturers. JLR, for example, has already revealed the Range Rover Electric, showing how quickly the luxury end of the market is starting to broaden beyond hybrid powertrains.
The contrast is particularly interesting because this is not a rejection of electrification altogether. McLaren is continuing with high-performance hybrids and investing in new powertrains — it is specifically holding back from removing the combustion engine entirely.
The regulatory picture is also moving. In the UK, the Government has been reviewing the pace of the zero-emission vehicle mandate, including the possibility of reducing the 2030 EV sales target, adding another layer of uncertainty to manufacturers’ product planning.
Tech Torque Verdict
The SUV will inevitably attract the headlines because it represents such a fundamental expansion of what a McLaren road car can be.
But the bigger story may be the industrial strategy behind it.
New UK assembly capacity, at least 1,000 jobs, greater control of carbon-fibre production and more powertrain development brought in-house amount to a considerable rebuilding of McLaren’s manufacturing capability.
Its EV position is equally revealing. McLaren is not turning its back on electrification; hybrid technology will remain central to its future cars. But rather than committing to a battery-electric model on an industry timetable, it is waiting until its customers convince it there is a market.
Whether that remains viable as emissions rules tighten and rivals push further into battery-electric luxury cars will be worth watching.
For now, though, McLaren’s immediate future looks bigger, more practical and more heavily hybridised — but not fully electric.
