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Ferrari is doing it. Lamborghini did it. So did Aston Martin. All of these supercar manufacturers are now diving into making SUVs, so why not McLaren? McLaren has been making supercars since the 1980s and today makes several low-slung, usually orange, hyper-, and supercars that will draw a crowd wherever they park. It’s also a successful Formula 1 constructor. For several months now internet sleuths have been trying to find out if McLaren is working on an SUV and several awkward-looking drawings have appeared. The Urus is Lamborghini’s most successful model ever, and many say that the Cayenne saved Porsche 20 years ago. So, what could a McLaren SUV be like?

Like Ferrari, McLaren is a racing company that makes roadgoing cars

McLaren makes race cars and supercars for the road. Could a new McLaren SUV be on the horizon?
Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the McLaren MCL36 | Formula 1 via Getty Images

McLaren is a racing company at its core. Like Ferrari. It makes Formula 1 cars, Indy cars, and a wild Extreme E, EV, off-road racer. Those racing cars created a demand for car nerds to want roadgoing cars. While McLaren did make some rare one-off cars, it didn’t really build steam until 2015. The company breaks them up into fast, faster, and fastest with the 570-series cars, the 650 and now 720-series cars, and the ultimate cars like the P1 and the Senna. McLaren’s numbers reflect the cars’ metric horsepower numbers.

So what could a McLaren SUV be like?

McLaren makes an off-road racer for the Extreme E series. Could a McLaren SUV take cues from this racer?
McLaren’s Extreme E race car | McLaren

Dozens of writers have said a new McLaren SUV is inevitable. Sure, at one point the CEO of McLaren said that it would never build an SUV, but so did Ferrari’s old CEO, too. Today, all of McLaren’s cars have been two- or three-seaters (with the driver in the middle). So, the company has no design language for an SUV. Neither does Ferrari. But, McLaren’s cars are dominated by their engines being in the middle, so that means big air ducts. The front ends are swoopy and low, so we could expect that with the company’s sleek LED lights, and of course it would have to be fast.

McLaren cars are hybrids, so an SUV would likely be, too

A green-and-black 2021 McLaren 765LT Spider with its roof down
2021 McLaren 765LT Spider | McLaren

Ferrari is leaning on its heritage with the new Purosangue SUV and reportedly fitting a gasoline V12 engine in it. McLaren is a new company, compared to Ferrari, and its cars are known for high-power gas engine paired with even higher-powered electric motors. SUVs, and especially four-wheel-drive SUVs, are great for hybrid power because they’re bigger and there’s more room for batteries and 4×4 systems. Already, several McLarens are all-wheel drive.

The competition will be fierce

Lamborghini Urus in the dirt. Will McLaren build an SUV to compete?
Lamborhini Urus | Lamborghini

The Lamborghini Urus, the upcoming Ferrari Purosangue and the Aston Martin DBX are serious performance SUVs. The Urus quickly became the company’s best-selling vehicle ever. Since 2018 the Urus has graced the covers of magazines and been flaunted on Instagram by celebrities. It’s ridiculously quick, but it does that fitting a big turbocharged V8, not a big V10 or V12 like its sports cars.

The Aston Martin DBX starts at $176,00 and has 697 horsepower. It was launched in 2020 and the SUV was designed to be just as capable as its roadgoing supercars, just taller. Ferrari hasn’t released specs on the new Purosangue SUV. But it’s expected to be a beast. It will likely be built on the four-seat Roma platform, but it will be more SUV-like than car-like and have more passenger space and more cargo room than any other Ferrari.

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Writer - Sedans & Coupes

Dan Mayfield

Dan joined MotorBiscuit in 2022 with over 20 years of experience in journalism and a lifelong passion for anything related to the automotive industry. He grew up wrenching a 1949 Ford pickup truck and an MGB with his dad, learning how not to wire a fuel pump (he inadvertently set the MGB on fire).

After earning a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from the University of New Mexico, Dan has contributed his expertise to a range of local outlets, including the City of Albuquerque, US Eagle, and the Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity.

On weekends, Dan spends Saturdays enjoying “cars and coffee” chats and, on Sundays, he’s watching the Route 66 Cruise roll through town. He also races motorcycles, and it’s not unusual to find him elbows-deep in his latest cafe racer build.

Taking advantage of the local desert terrain, Dan also enjoys exploring and driving off-road in his trusty Ram Rebel pickup truck, which provides personal insights into his contributions to our Trucks, SUVs, & Crossovers coverage. Dan strives to give our readers unique information about the dynamic automotive market, reading anything that has to do with cars, trucks, bikes, 4X4s, and, in his words, “everything with a motor.”

Dan has earned a number of accolades from the Public Relations Society of America, and is a University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism Fellow.