- McLaren’s first SUV will target the Lamborghini Urus and Aston Martin DBX.
- It hasn’t decided whether to use carbon fiber or aluminum.
- Nevertheless, the hybrid SUV is expected before the end of the decade.
McLaren is going to build an SUV. Yes, really. After years of denying it would go down this road, the British supercar maker finally confirmed plans this week for its first high-riding model. However, one important detail remains: what it’s actually going to be made from.
You’d assume a company that has built its reputation around lightweight construction would already have an answer. Well, not quite. McLaren says it hasn’t yet decided whether the SUV will use a carbon-fiber structure or an aluminum one. That decision apparently depends on whether the company can make carbon fiber work for a vehicle of this size.
“Our DNA is carbon fiber,” McLaren COO Michael Straughan told Top Gear magazine. However, he added that the company isn’t committing yet because using carbon fiber on such a large vehicle comes with challenges. If they can’t make it work, the fallback plan is aluminum.
The Material Dilemma
That’s quite the dilemma for a company closely associated with carbon fiber for decades. The iconic three-seater F1 helped pioneer the material’s use in road cars, and carbon-fiber construction remains central to the brand’s identity. But scaling that technology up to an inevitably porky hybrid SUV is a different proposition altogether.
McLaren’s new SUV won’t be a carbon (pun intended) copy of the Ferrari Purosangue, either. The company says it is targeting the Lamborghini Urus and Aston Martin DBX instead, suggesting a more traditional performance SUV concept. When asked about the V12 family car from Maranello, Straughan wasn’t convinced it belongs in the same competitive set, noting that Ferrari’s approach is quite different.
Carbon Fiber Or Aluminum?
That distinction could make the McLaren especially interesting. The company wants an SUV that remains true to its lightweight philosophy, but it also must deal with the realities of building something substantially larger than its current low-slung sports cars. A carbon-fiber structure would help preserve the brand’s identity, but the engineering challenges and costs of building something this large could push McLaren toward aluminum.
Whatever material it ultimately chooses, the SUV will ride on a platform developed entirely by McLaren rather than one borrowed from another automaker. It will also use an in-house hybrid powertrain, with production expected before the decade’s end. The timing is rather interesting, given that McLaren hasn’t even picked the material yet.
In a world where Lotus sells an SUV that weighs 5,820 pounds (2,640 kilograms), it’s honestly hard to be surprised by anything anymore.
Sweeping Changes At McLaren:
Source:
Top Gear
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