A McLaren SUV? Apparently So

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 Gets A Kick

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. 

Mexico Passenger Car Sales: 2026 (Jan-Aug)

Registrations were up 2% in August and 5% YTD. Nissan maintained its long standing leadership here with 17% of the total market. Chevrolet likewise is a popular brand with 12.0% share. 

In 2026, imported Chinese cars had tariffs increased from 20% to 50%. China called the move protectionist and seeing as they have various duties to limit imports, they should know.  

Some importers are not reporting. BYD, GAC and Tesla haven't been, although none of those are stellar performers in Mexico anyway. Chirey (Chery), Jaecoo and Omoda pulled out after reporting last year. 

Chirey's has had a sales slump as it sorts out spare parts availability, delays in repairs, and problems with customer service quality. To limit negative press, they are holding back data until those issues are sorted. 

Data source: AMDA. Photos: Nissan Sentra & Chevrolet Tracker. 

Cyprus Private Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Aug)

This covers new cars sold to private citizens only. The main exclusion is for rental cars. Kia is the leading brand, with Toyota retaining second place and Nissan pushing up into third. BYD is on a mission and is now fourth. There aren't many Chinese brands here yet either, MG another one. BAIC has just arrived and more from China will follow. 

Data source: Cystat.

Korea Car/LCV Sales: 2026 (Jan-Aug)

Hyundai/Kia/Genesis has 72.3% of the market between them. That's what protectionism gives you. Boring for car buyers, but good for the economy. The importers that can overcome that hurdle are of the premium variety. 

Kia has passed Hyundai in an 'exciting' race at the top and is now pulling away. As Hyundai does better with LCVs, Kia's PC lead is even more pronounced. Hyundai is moving upmarket and that's probably the reason. 

Kia has by far the best selling vehicle in the form of the Sorento. It has three of the top four as it stands now. 

Tesla is doing well this year as is new arrival BYD, the latter only in its second year here. Smaller US brands Chevrolet, Jeep, Ford, Cadillac and Lincoln all declined. GMC was the exception. 

Some lower volume marques choose not to release sales figures, but this list gives a good overall coverage of the market. 

Data source: KAMA, KAIDA. Photos: Tesla Y & Hyundai Casper (Inster).

Japan Passenger Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Aug)

Registrations were up 1% in August and also up 1% YTD. Toyota continues its dominance, despite not competing in the large Kei class. Japanese brands continue to control the market, with Korean and Chinese brands not even causing a ripple.  

Tesla's figure is an estimate, based on extras less what is likely. It certainly is having a good year so far. Chrysler, GM and Ford aren't doing well. Jaguar says sayonara until the super luxury reincarnation arrives. 

The top ten models are to the right. A yellow background denotes Kei cars. The source combines the Yaris and Yaris Cross models. All the regular models are Toyotas. The Honda N-Box remains king. 

Japanese brands don't import many of their cars made in overseas factories. 81,200 in total have been imported so far. Suzuki contributed just over half of those with 43,100 units. Honda 19,000, Toyota 13,000, Mazda 3,400 amd Nissan 2700. 

Data source: JAMA, JAIA. Photos: Toyota bZ4X & Nissan Serena. 

Argentina Car/LCV Sales: 2026 (Jan-Aug)

Registrations were down 19% in August and down 13% YTD. Toyota has led since 2021, when it took over from VW. They both have taken a hit in their market share as has Renault and Jeep. 

Import duty on fully built up vehicle has given local manufacturers protection. It's complicated. Vehicles imported from MERCOSUR  nations (Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia) are tariff free. Mexico (quota-based) and Ecuador have reduced or zero tariffs on light vehicles. 

Up to 50,000 units of electric and hybrid vehicles can be imported tariff free annually. This especially benefits vehicles from China but how the 50k limit is applied if reached I'm unsure. It could explain why the top brands have reduced market share. 

Data source: ACARA. Photo: VW (Amarok).

Hong Kong P Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-Aug)

Registrations were down 30% in August but up 53% YTD. A strong start to 2026 (+143% by April) was helped by a poor start to 2025. Then EV purchase subsidies were cut back, leading to a slump from June onward. This has apparently squeezed profit margins too. By the end of the year, the large increase on 2025 with have been eroded. How much we will have to see.

Toyota was the best selling brand here for some time, with 2019 being the last year it was ranked #1. With electric cars now being so popular and Chinese brands aggressively active in this, a special administrative region of China, a comeback seems unlikely.  

Tesla and BYD are in a war for top spot, yet both suffering sharp market share falls. Audi didn't sell any cars in August and Hyundai has now missed two consecutive months. VW hasn't sold a car here since October last year. It's become a very disrupted market place for car importers.   

Looking at the top brands in more detail.

Tesla: Y (3,797) and 3 (2,587) are the two models sold here.
BYD: Sealion 7 (2,474) and the Atto 2 (2,178) make up 74% of the total.
GAC Aion: UT (1,227), ES (889) and V (674) lead the way.
Zeekr: 7X (2,371) and 009 (737) account for 98% of sales.
Toyota: bZ3X (1,397) did 63% of the registrations on its own.

Data source: HK Transport Department. 

Picture source: Zeekr (X) and GAC Aion (ES) Hong Kong.

NZ Passenger Car Sales : 2026 (Jan-July)

Registrations for PCs were up 15% in August and 15%YTD. Toyota has had a slow start, as it often does and while it had a good August, it still lags behind 2025. It holds 18.5% market share but that is down from 22.9% on a full 2025. 

Mitsubishi is in the same boat as Toyota, only a bit worse. BYD has raced into the top ten, with Haval and MG are there too and Chery closing in quickly on that achievement. The Haval H6 is above, right. The Chery Tiggo 4 below.

Japanese sourced passenger cars have reached 38% and Chinese 29% penetration 2026 YTD. EVs are up to 17% and hybrid cars (all types) 46%. 

Data source: NZTA. 

Lotus Technology Deliveries : 2025/26 (H1)

Lotus reported that it's half year sales result was up 39%. Going on their unaudited 2025 figure as as seen to the right, it's +35%. 

According to the company, growth was driven by the launch of the Eletre X, a new PHEV model. The sports car division meanwhile maintained a stable volume. 

Data source: Lotus Technology.

Photos: Lotus. (Eletre, Emira & Eletre X).

Regionally, China experienced strong growth in total deliveries with an increase of 60% YOY, outpacing the premium passenger automotive segment amid an increasingly competitive landscape. 

Lifestyle vehicle deliveries (Cars/SUV) increased to 77% of the total sales. It was 70% in 2025. Sports cars are, as mentioned already, holding up well, but not growing to the same degree. 

Eletre X, a new PHEV model. It helped Lotus enter the range extended PHEV segment. Eletre X has been delivered in China and six other markets. Deliveries in mainland Europe are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by the UK in mid 2027. 

GAC Aoin/Hyptec Deliveries 2020-2025

Aion is an electric car maker which is a subsidiary of GAC. The first cars arrived in 2018, the S model. In 2019, 32,100 S cars were sold and 1,300 of the LX model were sold. 

The chart here starts a year later with 59,500 units delivered. The next three years, excellent growth was achieved and in 2023, the 480,000 sales made Aion the third largest EV brand in the world, behind only Tesla and BYD. 

The Hyptec EV marque started in 2022 and comes under Aion. Aion targets the mainstream EV segment while Hyptec aims toward more premium and performance vehicles.  

As things deteriorated in China, so did the sales. In the two years from 2023, the drop in volume was 40%. In 2025, exports were prioritised.

With the turn toward exports, how has Aion/Hyptec been going in 2026? We will cover that in a future article coming soon. 

Data source: GAC.

Photo source: GAC.
(Aion UT & Hyptec GT). 

Suzuki Sales : 2024-26 (H1)

Most legacy brands are finding life difficult as hordes of Chinese brands join the fray. Is Suzuki coping well or feeling the pinch like so many others? 

Sales are up 10% in the first half of the year to 1.8 million units. In 2021, they were up 13% / 2020 +7% / 2023 +4% / 2024 +6% / 2025 +1%. The +10% figure for 2026 is a surprisingly positive upturn after a few years of declining increases. 

The secret is having two large markets that are thus far unaffected by a Chinese influx. They are India, which accounts for 58% of total sales, and Japan, 21%. That's nearly 4 out of 5 sales in two countries. Is that a good thing or a risky position ot be in?

One could reason that such a reliance on just two markets could leave Suzuki exposed, but if so, then it won't be happening soon. The Indian car buyer strongly supports Suzuki and in Japan, the unique Kei car segment is unlikely to be seriously challenged and where Suzuki sells most of its cars. 

That said, BYD and Chery are introducing EV Kei cars to Japan but unless the EV take up increases greatly, it will have little impact. Currently, EV Kei cars make up just over 1% of total sales with growth potential. 

Data & photo source: Suzuki. (Fronx & Ignis).