America inspires McLaren's four-door Ferrari fighter

MONTEREY, Calif. — McLaren is looking at a future beyond the Skittles-colored two-door V8-powered supercars that have propelled the British brand beyond the racetrack.

And it's leaning on its fastest-growing market — the U.S. — to guide it.

McLaren has its eyes on its first four-door model that could arrive as early as 2028.

"A lifestyle-oriented vehicle could have a big potential for us," McLaren Automotive CEO Michael Leiters told Automotive News on a breezy Friday morning at Monterey Car Week. "It could add an important leg to our business."

Leiters would know. The German executive has helped a pair of other swoopy sports car makers expand beyond two doors. Leiters steered two high-profile utility vehicles to market: the Porsche Cayenne and, most recently, the Ferrari Purosangue.

McLaren executives avoid referring to the planned model as an SUV, arguing the body style is under consideration. Instead, they refer to it as a "shared performance" vehicle.

A more utilitarian model could replace the McLaren GTS as the brand's gateway model, drawing new customers, just as the Cayenne did for Porsche. "We want to enlarge our customer base," Leiters said.

A four-door McLaren, Leiters said, must be true to the brand's two-door DNA. "It has to be light. It has to be nimble," he said. "It has to meet performance and acceleration benchmarks."

The vehicle will be unlike any other McLaren in another respect — it will require the company for the first time to partner with another automaker on the platform and potentially the body making.

"Everything which is not our core can be of interest" in any partnership, Leiters said. "This makes it more viable and profitable for us."

Leiters said McLaren is in discussions with multiple automakers, but declined to identify them. "It's very promising," he said.

The CEO said McLaren also has plenty to bring to the partnership. "We have the best vehicle dynamics in this segment. We have the best aerodynamics. We have the lightest cars," he said.

But any technology sharing would result in a distinctively McLaren vehicle.

"We don't want a car where somebody is saying, 'This is a partner product,' " Leiter said. "There will be no dilution of brand or product."

A roomier McLaren would fit nicely in the brand's growth and profit engine — the United States.

The brand's North American sales more than doubled in the first quarter to 416 vehicles. The U.S. accounted for more than half of the 796 vehicles McLaren sold worldwide in the quarter.

"The perception of the brand in the United States is so strong," Leiters said. "We are playing here on the same level as carmakers like Ferrari, who has 90 years of experience. We are 13 years old."

Leiters attributed McLaren's market success to the psyche of the American consumer.

"The economy in the United States is more resilient," he said. "Even if it's sometimes going difficult, [Americans are more willing to] take on the challenge."

On the other hand, Europeans tend to be "more risk averse" and take a wait-and-see approach before pulling the trigger on big discretionary purchases.

"If there's a recession, even if people have the financial power, sometimes they think, 'Aah, let's wait,' " Leiters said.

McLaren sales and marketing chief George Biggs said the brand's products "tune very well to our customer base here."

America's car culture — and the cross-country interstate system — are also conducive to high-dollar supercar driving.

"In the U.S., we have an infrastructure where driving a supercar of this type is very acceptable," Biggs said.

No wonder then that McLaren is tailoring its product strategy to its biggest market.

"We're planning out into the 2030s [and] we're excited about what we've got on the confidential drawing board," Biggs said. "And the Americas is a fundamental part of that."

While McLaren hasn't revealed the powertrain that would propel a potential four-door model, it is unlikely to be battery-powered.

"Today for several reasons, [electric propulsion is] not relevant for us in the supercar segment," Leiters said. "It's too heavy, and the [driving experience] is not emotional enough."

Leiters said a production electric supercar won't happen this decade given battery technology.

"Before McLaren does an EV supercar, there is no EV supercar because we are the only ones who know really how to do a lightweight vehicle," he said. "It is easy to have [nearly] 2,000 hp weighing 2.3 or 2.5 tons, but this is not a sports car."

Then there's the challenge of slumping residual values as the EV industry matches Tesla's price-cutting.

According to ALG, electric vehicles retained 41 percent of their value when they returned to the market in 2023, compared with 66 percent for internal combustion engine vehicles and EVs combined.

"Residual values are not where they need to be and this is fundamental for our business," Leiters said.

Until battery tech matures, McLaren is betting on hybrid technology to deliver sustainable performance.

"In four years, around 90 percent of our fleet will be hybridized," Leiters said.

The automaker's latest project is a lightweight hybrid system that will debut in McLaren's next halo car this year. The Formula One-inspired hybrid, codenamed P18, is powered by a new McLaren-designed V-8 engine paired with a hybrid system that is about 70 percent lighter than the current generation.

"That is a really exciting powertrain that we will use as a fundamental technology as we go forward into the future," Biggs said.