McLaren CEO Michael Leiters told Road & Track that an SUV is coming to the supercar brand.
Blasphemy or smart business?
In general, car enthusiasts tend to look askance at exotic car brands that add SUVs/crossovers to their lineups. This is because these brands are supposed to purely focused on high-dollar performance machines.
On the other hand, there’s a narrative out there that Porsche used the profits from the Cayenne and Macan to keep building 911s and other sports cars. That’s likely true.
Personally, I think that if an exotic brand like McLaren decides to build an SUV, it doesn’t mean that the brand is no longer pure. If you have the money to afford a McLaren and you want to own a GTS, why should you care if the brand also sells an SUV? I doubt someone buying a Lamborghini Revuelto cares that the brand offers the Urus.
It may be weird to compare mainstream brands to exotics, but I doubt a Mustang buyer is put off by Ford selling the Explorer. On the other hand, Ford has sold SUVs for decades and offers models for almost every segment. I suppose it is jarring when a brand that only sells extreme performance cars at extremely high prices moves into a new segment, but I also wonder if it’s really that big a deal.
What say you?
Sound off below.
[Image: McLaren]
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