McLaren has not broken its promise to not make an SUV.
Mike Flewitt, who has been at McLaren for eight years, is retiring as the head of the road car division. The former head honcho of McLaren insisted that the Woking peeps would not join the SUV wagon unlike Aston Martin, Bentley and Lamborghini. Ferrari and its Purosangue will follow in 2022.
McLaren is keeping its promise, so don’t worry about it. This spectacular off-roader comes straight from McLaren’s racing division. It’s an all electric SUV that will participate next year in the Extreme E series. Emma Gilmour will take the wheel, making her the McLaren Racing’s first female driver. Tanner Foust will join her in the duo.
Vic Lee, an artist and illustrator, created the lovely orange livery. His drawings depict the Amazon Desert, Arctic Ocean, and the Amazon. This is to show where the Extreme E series will go next year. The roof has McLaren Racing’s “Count Us In” pledge visible at the front. This is a visual tribute to Bruce McLaren, who was born in New Zealand like Emma Gilmour.
The specs of the off-roader are quite impressive. Extreme E claims that all cars competing in zero-emissions racing have dual electric motors. They produce a combined output 543 horsepower (400 megawatts). This allows for a 0-60 mph time of four and a quarter seconds. The electric machine weighs in at 1,780 kg (3,924 lbs) and has a 54-kWh battery.
McLaren’s high-riding electric car is impressively wide at 2.3 meters (90.5 in). This number is a bit misleading. Our roundup of widest cars in production placed the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ at number one, but it was still narrower at 2.09m (82.6 inches) without side mirrors. It’s wider than the Hummer H1 and Toyota Mega Cruiser.
The 2022 Extreme E Championship will be held in Saudi Arabia from February 19-20, 2019. This is the first round of five, but the final calendar has not yet been announced.