McLaren rules out Ferrari SUV rival

McLAREN head of product planning Alex Long has ruled out building an SUV “irrespective” of a move by Ferrari to enter that space, confirming that four-door models are not part of its Track22 product roadmap that extends towards 2022.

Speaking at the national media reveal of the 570S Spider in Sydney last week, Mr Long explained that McLaren wanted to cap its annual production at between 4000 and 5000 vehicles without moving towards five-figures like its Italian rival.

“At the moment Track 22 doesn’t contain it (an SUV),” he told GoAuto.

“It contains 15 new models or variants by 2022. It doesn’t contain an SUV. It doesn’t contain a four-door. I can reveal that.

“It very much remains (that) we have no intention of moving into that marketplace. We want to remain exclusive. We’re not chasing down volume.

“We’ve talked openly about getting to sort of four, five thousand units (annually) and remaining a very exclusive-client supercar company and that remains our objective irrespective of other companies’ strategies.

“It (Ferrari) really wouldn’t affect our planning. Part of the appeal of our brand is that we do supercars very, very well. It’s a specialism. We want to be a specialist in that luxury supercar market and volume in itself is not an objective.”

McLaren has instead announced it will bring another racetrack-focused hypercar to the market which is set to be revealed early in 2018, alongside the three-seat flagship codenamed BP23 and tagged by its maker as the world’s first ‘hyper GT’ (see separate story).

Mr Long insisted that McLaren must remain true to its low-slung, two-door sportscar and hypercar roots, and implement that plan before anything further is discussed.

Asked whether McLaren owners who have families would like to see a more spacious and practical option from the car-maker, as is the case with Porsche and its Cayenne and now Ferrari with its forthcoming Ferrari Utility Vehicle (FUV), the global head of product admitted such buyers will have to look elsewhere.

“Our owners tend to be multiple car owners as well and that tends to be the case in the marketplace where they’ll have different vehicles for different needs, and so that flexibility is there within their own garage,” he replied.

“In terms of practicality, we offer the most practical supercars on the market.

We’ve got the most storage in 720S of any supercar, yet it’s still the quickest. It’s still the best handling. We can blend those (practicality) factors into the car.

“(But) in our current lineup we have two-seat mid-engine rear drive. It’s a very established recipe for us.

“We want to be known for that, and have a strong reputation for that in the marketplace first and foremost before we start examining deviations from that plan.”

McLaren introduced the 570S Spider to the Australian market this month, sitting alongside the entry 540C and 570S coupes and 570GT as part of what it dubs its Sports Series products.

The car-maker will replace its 650S with the new 720S later this year as part of its Super Series mid-level range, with the forthcoming duo of hypercars to become new additions to its flagship Ultimate Series.