McLaren Automotive announced new details on a major investment in its UK production, including an expanded workforce and a new SUV.
A couple decades ago, it was absolutely unthinkable that legendary supercar brands would rollout an SUV. Look around these days, however, and the idea is no longer anathema — it’s how these companies aim to stay in business. Take McLaren, which just officially followed the path of Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Ferrari by committing to new investment that will add a performance utility model to the lineup.
The news comes with a hefty £500 million ($573 million) investment by L’IMAD, a year-and-a-half after McLaren changed ownership from the Bahrain Sovereign Wealth Fund over to the Abu Dhabi government-backed CYVN Holdings. According to the company’s announcement Wednesday, the money will go to “expand [its] UK manufacturing, engineering and operations, enabling it to accelerate the development of [its] next-generation models.”
The main focus remains McLaren’s production center in Woking, England, though it will also double the size of its South Yorkshire carbon fiber facility in Sheffield. It also recently opened a design center in Bicester. Through 2032, McLaren says the investment will add 1,000 new jobs across its UK operations. A further 3,000 additional jobs could be created throughout the supply chain as well, which would be substantial expansion for a company that currently employs around 2,500 people.
While the new SUV is a major component of the announcement, McLaren brought in the rest of its portfolio in Wednesday’s announcement as well. It said it will upgrade production lines in pursuit of “building a complete portfolio around the supercar — intentionally and carefully segmented, with the goal of maximizing brand value, desirability and client loyalty.” That includes designing and building its future powertrains in-house, for the first time, with two new hybrid engines and transmissions on the way. A V8 and 6-speed manual transmission, as showcased by the McL 6GT concept shown at Monterey, is also set for production in 2028.
At the moment, we have no idea what the new McLaren SUV will look like or any technical details. Apart from packing a new hybrid powertrain, we’ll just have to wait and see what the company’s design and engineering team come up with when it makes its big debut in the next couple years.
