News24 | McLaren to launch its first SUV model, expand UK plant

McLaren is set to launch its first-ever SUV.

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• McLaren is investing $675 million in manufacturing, including a new car factory.
• The luxury sports car maker is to launch its first SUV model.
• There are no plans for an electric vehicle, as there’s no customer demand.

British supercar maker McLaren said on Tuesday it would invest $675 million in its UK manufacturing and engineering operations and add new models, including its first-ever SUV, to lift sales and pursue far higher profit margins to rival Ferrari.

McLaren’s investments will include a new UK assembly plant, and it will develop and build its own transmissions and engines, which it said would create 1 000 direct and indirect jobs by 2032.

“McLaren Automotive is doubling down on Britain,” UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a statement.

The firm’s expansion plan comes as automakers across the industry are restructuring. Nissan is ditching plants and some future models. Jaguar Land Rover is cutting staff, while Volkswagen’s supervisory board has just approved a turnaround plan that includes sweeping job cuts.

McLaren CEO Nick Collins told Reuters that the company’s investment plan follows last year’s restructuring after its acquisition by Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings, which also bought a non-controlling stake in McLaren’s Formula One business. The automaker’s main shareholder is now Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, L’IMAD.

L’IMAD has committed to investing 1.5 billion pounds in McLaren over the next five years.

McLaren slashed bloated dealer stocks last year by cutting one of two production shifts at the assembly plant at its headquarters in Woking, England, and has now switched to making cars only when orders are placed to avoid discounting and boost residual values.

As part of the restructuring process, sales fell to around 2 000 cars in 2025 from just under 3 300 in 2024.

The new performance SUV model in development is part of a strategy to boost sales by offering customers more options, with several models planned. However, Collins declined to provide product details or launch dates.
Something unique

“We’ll do it very much in a McLaren way,” Collins said of the SUV. “It will bring something unique to the segment, which we think the customers will value.”

SUVs have become a growth driver for luxury sports carmakers, broadening their customer base beyond traditional buyers of sports cars and grand tourers to tap into strong demand for high-end utility vehicles. At Lamborghini, the Urus SUV has driven the brand’s sales growth since its launch in 2018. Rival Ferrari has limited production of its roughly $519 000 Purosangue SUV to maintain the vehicle’s exclusivity.

The Bentayga SUV is luxury British automaker Bentley’s top-selling model.

McLaren Chief Operating Officer Michael Straughan said the automaker needed growth to lower its material costs and lift its profits, and the way to get there was through expanding its product portfolio, starting with the SUV.

McLaren has been loss-making for years, but Straughan said the company’s margins could match the top performers in a segment that includes Ferrari, which has the highest profit margins in the auto industry.

“We can equal the best, but we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.

While Ferrari has launched a fully electric model, the Luce, which received a cool reception from investors and critics, McLaren CEO Collins said the automaker had no plans for an electric vehicle for now because there was no customer demand.

“We will do an electric vehicle when our customers ask us for one,” he said. “And they’re not asking.”

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