McLaren shacks up with Ontario’s Multimatic on Extreme E

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Canadian engineering powerhouse Multimatic has teamed up with some of the world’s most well-known automakers on a host of prestigious projects. Next on its list? Taking a crack at the all-electric Extreme E racing league — which perhaps might just spawn a McLaren SUV.

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While jumping into the Extreme E circuit – an FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series which deploys spec electric SUVs to race in remote parts of the world – by itself isn’t enough to suggest a Macca SUV is in the cards, its timing coincides with the departure of company CEO Mike Flewitt. Alert readers will recall Flewitt was unequivocal in his decree that McLaren would not chase sales in the SUV segment, despite other performance marques like Lamborghini and Aston Martin diving into that high-profit area with both feet.

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Now that Flewitt is gone, one of the major hurdles to the production of a McLaren SUV has vanished. Combined with its participation in Extreme E, there’s now a non-zero chance we could see a high-riding McLaren at some point in the future. Yes, we know Extreme E is a spec series and will not portend the shape of a Macca production vehicle in any form — but the fact remains the brand is planning to put its name on a race-prepped SUV (which will be piloted by hotshoes Emma Gilmour and Tanner Foust, by the way).

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The steadfast declarations that McLaren would not build an SUV was certainly a delight to the ears of gearheads and traditionalists across the globe, but it has surely been a thorn in the side of company accountants. Recall that the brand had to literally mortgage its headquarters in order to keep the lights on after experiencing a cash-flow crunch, yet still had to bin over 1,000 employees.

As the heads of Aston, Lambo, Porsche – and, soon, Ferrari – can attest, hucking a high-profit SUV is a sure-fire way to juice balance sheet and continue producing the types of performance vehicles on which their brand was founded.

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A complication for McLaren is, of course, its lack of corporate tie-up with another automaker. This is sometimes viewed as a Good Thing, permitting the company to chart its own course without the need to run its plans past a corporate overlord. Where is does complicate matters is in the fact that, absent a parts bin from which to start a project, building an all-new vehicle (like an SUV) is a herculean task. The new hybrid Artura is Exhibit A of this phenomenon.

One more clue that a McLaren SUV is now a better bet than last year? The company has hired Aston Martin’s chief chassis engineer, Matt Becker — who led development of that brand’s DBX.