Fully electric McLaren family car in the offing. What does it mean

British sportscar marquee McLaren is reportedly working on its first-ever SUV, which would be an all-electric vehicle. In an interaction with the Car magazine, McLaren Automotive's new CEO Michael Leiters has confirmed that the brand is looking to expand its portfolio into new areas in an attempt to generate more revenue, Also, he said that the automaker is developing a car for family use. Connecting all the dots, his comment clearly indicates that the automaker is probably working on its first-ever electric SUV.

In a nutshell, Leiters never explicitly confirmed an SUV is in the works, but it is safe to assume that's what he meant by a car for family use.

SUVs are the latest phenomenon in the global auto industry. Almost every automaker that had not manufactured SUVs or crossovers before or even vowed not to make one is jumping on the bandwagon to develop these boxy models. The reason behind this is the skyrocketing demand for SUVs and crossovers from consumers. Hence, the revenue generation model is in play for these automakers.

Iconic sports car brands like Lamborghini and Ferrari have already brought their respective products, like Urus and Purosangue, into the segment. Aston Martin, too brought its DBX into the same segment. The British car marquee's almost half of total sales last year were DBXs. So far, these models have helped the respective car brands to post significantly higher revenue earnings. Now, McLaren, too seems to be ready to walk the same road.

Speaking about the upcoming McLaren car, Leiters has said that with today's lithium-ion batteries, he wouldn't want to make a fully electric supercar as it would weigh too much and wouldn't handle as well as an internal combustion engine or hybrid powertrain-equipped model. However, an electric SUV or limousine would be okay, as handling would not be as important for such a model. Also, such a model from McLaren would come as extremely powerful.

The McLaren CEO even hinted that it wouldn't be surprising to see the SUV coming with around 1,000 kW of peak power output at its disposal. "With an EV, it’s even more important to have a connected car, to have good control systems to use all the potential you have with electric motors," he further added.

Interestingly, before joining McLaren, Leiters worked with Ferrari, where his last project was the Purosangue. Before Ferrari, he was a project manager at Porsche, where he was the key member of the team behind the project Cayenne. Hence, his love for SUVs are well known.

Check out Upcoming EV Cars in India.