McLaren confirmed its first SUV this week. Not a rumor, not a concept — the McLaren SUV is officially in development, backed by a £500 million investment from L’IMAD, a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Abu Dhabi government. New UK factory, two new engines built from scratch, five seats. McLaren hasn’t built anything like this before.
What L’IMAD’s £500 Million Actually Pays For
£500 million is roughly $672 million. That’s not a loan — it comes from L’IMAD, the same Abu Dhabi sovereign fund whose parent group CYVN bought McLaren outright in October 2024. The money splits across UK manufacturing and engineering.
A brand new vehicle assembly facility gets built somewhere in the UK. The existing McLaren Production Centre in Woking picks up additional investment. So does the carbon-fiber plant at the McLaren Composites Technology Centre in South Yorkshire. Two recently opened sites — a design building in Bicester and a testing facility in the Midlands — feed into the same program.
McLaren says 1,000 jobs across all sites by 2032, manufacturing headcount doubling. Six years ago the company auctioned off its own history to pay its bills. The scale of what got announced this week doesn’t have much in common with that version of the company.
McLaren SUV: Everything Confirmed So Far
McLaren confirmed the McLaren SUV exists. That’s the official part. Everything else comes from a late 2025 report that got ahead of today’s announcement.
Powertrain is a V-8 hybrid running all four wheels. Four doors, five seats — neither of which McLaren has ever put on a production car. Shape reportedly similar to a Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT Coupe, with a big rear spoiler and diffuser. That silhouette tells you what kind of McLaren SUV this is — not a school-run car with a badge, something built to embarrass things at a track day.
Power output unconfirmed. Weight unconfirmed. Price unconfirmed. Production timeline unconfirmed. McLaren confirmed the car’s existence and pointed at the factory investment. Specs come later.
McLaren SUV Against the Urus and Cayenne Turbo GT
| McLaren SUV | Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT | Lamborghini Urus SE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powertrain | V-8 hybrid AWD | 4.0L twin-turbo V-8 | V-8 hybrid AWD |
| Power | TBC | 729 hp | 789 hp |
| 0–62 mph | TBC | 3.3 sec | 3.4 sec |
| Seats | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Price (est.) | £200,000+ | £175,000 | £220,000+ |
Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT does 0-62 in 3.3 seconds. Lamborghini Urus SE does it in 3.4. Those are the numbers the McLaren SUV has to get under, at a price that’ll almost certainly sit above both.
New Engines: McLaren Cuts Ties With Ricardo
Every engine McLaren has made recently came from Ricardo — the twin-turbo V-6 in the Artura, the twin-turbo V-8 in the 720S and its successors. That arrangement ends with the next generation. McLaren is designing and building its own engines in the UK from here on, and two new units with matching transmissions are already in development.
No specs on either engine yet. The McLaren SUV’s V-8 hybrid is expected to be an early application of the new in-house architecture. Building engines from scratch instead of buying them in is expensive — which is exactly the kind of expense a £500 million investment is designed to cover.
Artura Discontinued in 2028 — Replaced by 800 HP P34
Automotive News reported this week the Artura gets cut in 2028. An anonymous McLaren dealer briefed on the decision told them directly. McLaren hasn’t confirmed it.
The Artura never recovered from its launch. Semiconductor shortage pushed the debut back, early cars came back to dealers with oil pump failures and software bugs, and dropping from a V-8 in the 570S to a V-6 hybrid didn’t go down well with buyers who wanted more power and got less. Sales never hit where McLaren needed them.
P34 is what McLaren calls it internally. Twin-turbo V-6 hybrid, 800 hp, better cabin, design that the dealer source described as F1-influenced. Same person who told Automotive News the Artura was getting cut. Before end of 2027 is when it shows up — and at 800 hp it has nothing in common with the car it’s replacing except the engine layout.
On Sale Date and Pricing for the McLaren SUV
No production timeline confirmed for the McLaren SUV. No price announced. McLaren’s cheapest car starts above £200,000 — the McLaren SUV competing against the Urus and Cayenne Turbo GT won’t come in below that. Expect a number closer to £250,000 when the full spec sheet eventually lands.
FAQ
Did McLaren officially confirm the SUV?
McLaren confirmed it directly — part of the same announcement as the £500 million investment. Not a rumor, not a leaked document.
What engine goes in the McLaren SUV?
V-8 hybrid, all four wheels driven. How much power — McLaren hasn’t said yet.
How many seats does the McLaren SUV have?
Five seats, four doors. First McLaren ever built with either.
When does the McLaren SUV go on sale?
No date confirmed. Factory investment is being made now, vehicle details follow.
What replaces the Artura in 2028?
P34. 800 hp, twin-turbo V-6 hybrid, due before end of 2027. The dealer who leaked the Artura story to Automotive News added one more detail — the design borrows from the McLaren F1.
Will the McLaren SUV come to the US?
No confirmation yet. McLaren already sells in the US — the SUV will likely follow but no market list published yet.
