Data source: SEAA.
Photos Citroën (e-C3) & Suzuki Vitara.
I recall writing some time back that I thought that McLaren was very brave to resist the temptation to have an SUV. Every other luxury sports car manufacturer had yielded and gone to the dark side. The competition decided that it was a route they had to take. It's more profitable and reduces the financial impact if the sports car market is soft.
McLaren has surrendered and common sense has prevailed. Every manufacturer needs an SUV. Its code name is P47 but if you want to see some images, a bit early for that. There are some images circulating but as they are not from McLaren, I decided not to post guesswork.
This isn't simply about designing a different sort of the car, big as that is in itself. It also needs to be built somewhere, driven by something new and the increased volume also means expansions in other areas of the operation. So what are some of the details?
Plant Expansion: A second vehicle manufacturing plant, possibly in Sheffield. There will be expansions in facilities in Woking and Bicester.
In House Manufacturing: McLaren is shifting away from external suppliers, in that it plans to design and build two new engines and transmissions.
Timing: It is expected to be ready around 2028, all going well.
A Full EV Variant: This won't be happening as demand isn't sufficient to justify an EV.
Competition: The Lamborghini Urus and Aston Martin DBX are obvious ones.
McLaren is doing this from scratch, without collaborating with anyone else. It's a shame that there isn't a way to share with others and save on costs. That said, I can see why they want to do the car to match the McLaren ethos.
Nissan Sunderland in the UK was making 500,000 cars up to 2014, then it slipped slightly below that before falling away from 2018. It now sits slightly below the 300,000 mark. It was just the Qashqai and Juke in 2025 and the Leaf is back in 2026. Still, the Leaf isn't of the volume of the other two, so the factory isn't running at optimal production levels.
To address that, the Kicks e-POWER small SUV will commence production there in 2027, aslthough I'm unsure when will exactly kick off. It makes sense to fully utilise a factory and this will help in that regard.
Nissan and Chery are in early discussions about Chery also producing there, but that is still up in the air. I assume the plant is versatile enough to cope. It certainly has the total capacity. It's nice to see the plant alive and kicking.
