Having decided to prepare an electric super-SUV for launch by 2030, McLaren now has a series of hurdles to overcome. Probably in order of urgency they go something like this.
Which partner?
McLaren’s financial difficulties have been on display several times over the past few years, and it will need a major partner to get its SUV plans off the ground.
This large group will probably have to be ready to contribute a platform (as well as battery and powertrain elements), as the Volkswagen Group does to Lamborghini.
McLaren has already held group-level talks with VW (apparently centering on its Formula 1 business) and with BMW, and secret talks with other potential partners are reportedly underway.
A useful contact might be Mercedes-Benz. The new McLaren Artura is expected to use hybrid powertrain components designed and built by Yasa, an advanced electric motor specialist recently acquired by the German giant and soon to open a full-scale manufacturing plant in Berlin.
Where to build it?
The crossovers could easily double McLaren’s pre-pandemic annual production rate of around 4,600 cars a year, an eventuality that would force it to either build a new factory or massively expand its existing facility in Woking.
McLaren is reportedly already looking for a large, cooperative and technically advanced automaker to be its technical partner in the new project.
What size?
McLaren has always refused to participate in power races, preferring to compete by lightness. There’s no indication yet of just how big a new four-seater McLaren would be, but it’s hard to imagine a company whose base supercars are barely longer than the Volkswagen Golf settling for the length of 5.1 meters of the Lamborghini Urus, or its weight of 2200 kg. , even in its current pure-ICE form.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-06-15 07:45:31
