Opinion: is an electric SUV really the answer to McLaren's problems?

On the face of it McLaren has everything. A rich history including the most iconic road car of all time, nine constructors’ titles in F1, a personal story that takes in humble beginnings, personal triumph, outrageous Can-Am racers and cruel tragedy. Plus, it is dominating at the highest echelons of motorsport once again and has just announced a return to Le Mans in the Hypercar class. Oh, and the 750S is one of the greatest supercars ever made. What a dream.

Yet it has just been taken over by Forseven. What is Forseven, you might ask? Well, quite. The LinkedIn page proudly states it is “crafting unforgettable cars that blend British luxury with visionary technologies, forever". It’s true that nobody has forgotten any of the cars. Mostly because the company hasn’t actually made any.

Forseven is owned by CYVN Holdings, a fund backed by the Abu Dhabi government that has recently also acquired McLaren Automotive. It’s 700 people strong, has a tech agreement with Chinese manufacturer Nio, is made up of notable ex-JLR staff and is described by the Financial Times as an “all-EV British startup”.

Has your heart sunk yet? Mine too. To be fair, something had to be done. The road car division of McLaren has been haemorrhaging cash for years now and its former owner (Mumtalakat, the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund) has cried enough after some £1.5 billion of investment. It’s been so disastrous that McLaren had to sell its incredible headquarters and lease it back to free up some money.

Why the endless turmoil? I’m sure the full answer is deeply complex. But in a world where product is king, it can be boiled down to some very simple things: overproliferation of models in the early years; too many reliability woes; oversupply; cookie-cutter design. The knock on effect to all of this is historically poor residuals compared to Ferrari and Porsche’s special models. Restoring buyer confidence when even fantastic cars like the 750S are half price seven minutes after the owner picks them up is very, very difficult.

How do you solve a problem like McLaren? I don’t proclaim to know. But all the noises emerging from the dark recesses of the internet suggest Forseven’s leaders hope the answer is, erm, an SUV with an EV powertrain. I mean, why not? It literally hasn’t worked for anyone else, the entire concept is in direct opposition to McLaren’s brand values and history and it doesn’t address the real issues at hand with, for example, the Artura. But other than that it sounds a solid plan.

The wildest thing of all is that the one guy I would trust to turn McLaren Automotive around works within the same building. His name is Zak Brown. He loves cars. He gets McLaren and he’s made the F1 outfit (which CYVN has bought a much smaller stake in) a winning operation with an intelligent, fiercely competitive and consistent approach. It took him six years to get it back to the top, with many ups and downs along the way. The road car division is an even bigger project, yet Forseven claims to have a turnaround plan that will be executed “at incredible pace”. Oh dear. Zak... have a word, will you?