McLaren Confirms It’s Working on Its First SUV and Announces a Massive Investment in U.K. Production

McLaren has confirmed it is developing its first SUV and announced a £500 million investment from L’IMAD, a sovereign investment fund run by the Abu Dhabi government, aimed at expanding the British marque’s U.K. manufacturing and engineering operations. The funding — roughly $672 million at current exchange rates — will support a new vehicle assembly facility, expansions at existing sites and the in-house development of new powertrains, with McLaren saying the programme will create at least 1,000 jobs by 2032 and double its manufacturing workforce.

"All of McLaren’s future powertrains will be fully designed and built in-house," the company said, signalling a major shift toward internal engine and transmission development that will begin with two new engines and transmissions.

Context and details

The investment follows a 2024 ownership change in which CYVN Holdings, an Abu Dhabi investment group, acquired McLaren and merged into the business a British startup it owned, Forseven. The new £500 million injection from L’IMAD is explicitly targeted at manufacturing and engineering for McLaren’s next-generation models and will fund a mixture of greenfield and upgrade projects across the U.K.

• Planned and ongoing site work includes a new vehicle assembly facility, additions to the McLaren Production Centre in Woking, and upgrades to the McLaren Composites Technology Centre in South Yorkshire.
• Two recently opened U.K. sites — a design building in Bicester and a testing and development facility in the Midlands — will be supplemented by the new investment.
• The company expects the investment to support at least 1,000 new jobs across different sites by 2032 and to double its manufacturing workforce.

No technical specification was provided by McLaren for the SUV in its announcement, but prior reports have suggested the company is targeting an all-wheel-drive V-8 hybrid setup. The vehicle is expected to be McLaren’s first with four doors and five seats, and early descriptions compared its silhouette to large performance SUVs like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT Coupe, including a prominent rear spoiler and diffuser.

Separately, McLaren’s future model strategy appears to include a reshuffle of its entry-level sportscar line-up. The Artura, McLaren’s first plug-in hybrid, is reported to be slated for discontinuation in 2028 and will be replaced by a new mid-engined model codenamed P34 due by the end of 2027. The replacement is expected to retain a twin-turbo V-6 hybrid architecture but increase performance substantially — reports cite a target around 800 horsepower and a more upscale, dramatic cabin that references the marque’s heritage such as the McLaren F1.

Outlook

The combination of sovereign funding, a renewed focus on in-house powertrain development and the arrival of McLaren’s first SUV mark a clear strategic pivot for the company. Investment into U.K. assembly and composites capacity aims to anchor future product development domestically while broadening McLaren’s market reach with a four-door, five-seat high-performance SUV. If the company meets its timelines — launching the P34 by end-2027 and phasing out the Artura by 2028 — McLaren will enter the next decade with both a new model architecture and expanded manufacturing capability backed by significant capital.