McLaren to build first SUV for F1 fans with children
McLaren will build an SUV for the first time in its 63-year history.
The model does not yet have a name. It is aimed squarely at Formula One fans with children, buyers the company says its current cars cannot reach.
McLaren has solely built two-seater sports cars until now. Chief executive Nick Collins said that layout is a limitation for buyers with children. Chief operating officer Michael Straughan said Formula One supporters who would never purchase a McLaren sports car would consider a McLaren SUV. The Guardian
The SUV sits inside a £500m investment by CYVN Holdings, McLaren's new Abu Dhabi owner. The spending will create 1,000 jobs on top of an existing workforce of 2,500. Annual sales stood at about 3,000 cars a year at the time of the announcement on 16 September 2026. Straughan said he could "quite easily see" the family car doubling that figure.
An SUV, a taller and roomier sports utility vehicle, would change who can buy into the brand. It offers rear doors, rear seats and boot space. That is practical ground McLaren has never covered.
A new factory will build it. Sheffield is understood to be the preferred site over Woking. Sheffield is already home to McLaren's carbon-fibre plant, which makes the strong, lightweight structures at the core of its cars.
CYVN Holdings, an investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi government, bought McLaren Automotive from Bahrain's Mumtalakat sovereign wealth fund last year. CYVN has vowed to invest $2bn (£1.4bn) in McLaren over five years. The carmaker merged with British electric vehicle start-up Forseven Holdings in April 2026, although it has no immediate plans to build an electric vehicle of its own.
McLaren was founded in 1963 by racing driver Bruce McLaren, with the road-car arm spun off as McLaren Automotive in 2010. Its Grand Prix team had won the last two Formula One constructors' championships, the points title awarded to the best team each season, at the time of the report. Mumtalakat retains majority control of McLaren Racing, while CYVN holds a minority stake.
Earlier reports had pointed to a 2028 arrival for the SUV as a hybrid part-powered by a V-8 engine. Robb Report
What makes this stand out is the break with tradition. For 63 years the rule was two seats and nothing else. Now McLaren is betting that family life can sell cars.
For fans, this means the equation shifts a little. Lights-out still brings the same jolt. The school run could now come in papaya too.
