Nio‘s electric vehicle technology is unlikely to underpin a production McLaren before the end of the decade, after the British supercar maker’s CEO told Autocar in an exclusive interview that no electric models are currently planned.
Nick Collins — who sits on Nio‘s board of directors while simultaneously running McLaren Group Holdings — said the company will only build an EV “when our customers want one,” adding that “the market doesn’t want one yet.”
According to Autocar, that means every model in McLaren‘s product plan through 2030 will feature a combustion powertrain, though Collins said the company retains “flexibility” to adapt if conditions change.
The comments, published Wednesday on the first anniversary of the merger between McLaren and Abu Dhabi-backed startup Forseven, represent the clearest signal yet that the Nio EV platforms, software, and intellectual property licensed to the group will remain largely unused for the foreseeable future.
From EV to ICE
The pivot represents the latest chapter in a story EV has tracked closely since the merger was announced in April 2025.
CYVN Holdings — an Abu Dhabi government-backed investment vehicle — assembled a vertically integrated luxury automotive play over the course of 2023 and 2024.
The fund deployed over $6 billion across three interconnected companies: a $3.3 billion stake in Nio across three tranches completed in 2023, the full acquisition of McLaren Automotive from Bahrain’s Mumtalakat for approximately £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion), and about £1 billion ($1.34 billion) in Forseven, according to the Financial Times.
The British startup that spent three years in stealth mode building a team of more than 700 engineers, designers, and executives, many recruited from JLR and Lotus.
In January, Abu Dhabi consolidated its stakes in both Nio and McLaren into a new entity called L’imad Holding, wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government through the Department of Finance.
The chairman of L’imad’s board is Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. An SEC filing showed L’imad holds a 17.9% stake in Nio, making it the Chinese EV maker’s largest shareholder.
In February 2025, Nio Technology (Anhui) Co. signed a technology licensing deal with Forseven Ltd., granting it a global, non-exclusive licence to use Nio‘s EV platforms, software, and intellectual property.
The agreement, filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, covered both current and future Nio-developed technologies, including after-sales service provisions.
Two months later, CYVN announced the creation of McLaren Group Holdings Ltd., combining McLaren Automotive, its non-controlling stake in McLaren Racing, Forseven, and a new McLaren Licensing business.
Collins was appointed CEO, replacing the outgoing Michael Leiters. At the time, the group stated that “McLaren Automotive will benefit from CYVN’s strategic investment in Nio, to deliver access to visionary technologies and electrification.”
Collins remains a non-executive director on Nio‘s board, a position he has held since February 2024 — making him simultaneously the CEO of a company committing to combustion engines through 2030 and a board member of one of the world’s largest pure-play electric vehicle makers.
In June 2025, Chinese outlet Yiou reported that Nio would supply a small ~10 kWh battery pack for McLaren‘s hybrid models, built on Nio‘s in-house developed 4680 large cylindrical cells, with low-volume production expected in 2026.
Nio also restarted R&D on its 46105 large cylindrical battery and 120 kWh battery pack in collaboration with Forseven.
The EV maker confirmed its partnership with McLaren in September 2025, with founder and CEO William Li saying at the time that Nio’s technical service revenue primarily came from the British automaker.
In March, Li confirmed at a user event in Wuhan that Nio is “currently supplying” battery packs to McLaren, without providing further details.
EV has been told that several product-related Nio staff have moved to work on McLaren’s upcoming models, though the exact number is not known.
An example of the pipeline between the three companies is Alister Whelan, who joined Nio in October 2021 as Director of the Munich Design Studio, left in January 2023 to become VP of Design at Forseven, and was appointed Chief Creative Officer at McLaren Automotive by May 2025 following the merger.
But as early as September 2025, Reuters reported that sources familiar with the matter said future McLaren models would incorporate “far more McLaren DNA and less Chinese technology.”
Two months later, Auto Express revealed that McLaren’s first major post-merger product would be a V8-powered four-door hybrid SUV, code-named P47, due by 2028.
Collins told reporters in January 2026 that McLaren would only go fully electric “when the market requires it and wants it.”
Abu Dhabi’s L’imad subsequently committed more than $2 billion in total investment to fund McLaren‘s expansion through 2030.
Not Alone
McLaren is far from the only supercar maker pulling back from electrification.
Across the segment, the luxury industry’s EV timelines have been pushed back as customer demand has failed to materialise.
Ferrari is the furthest along among McLaren‘s direct rivals.
Its first electric model — a four-door, four-seat GT named the Luce, with interiors designed by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive’s LoveFrom studio — is set for a full reveal in May and deliveries in late 2026, priced above $500,000.
Reuters reported last June that the Italian marque had delayed a second, higher-volume EV from 2026 to at least 2028, with one source describing demand for high-performance electric sports cars as “non-existent.”
Ferrari has since revised its 2030 sales mix target to 40% combustion, 40% hybrid, and 20% electric — down from an earlier plan that called for 40% EVs.
Lamborghini went further, cancelling the all-electric version of the Lanzador entirely and converting it to a plug-in hybrid.
CEO Stephan Winkelmann told The Sunday Times that the acceptance curve for EVs in the super sports segment was “close to zero,” describing the company’s EV efforts as “an expensive hobby.”
Aston Martin, which had planned a pure EV using Lucid‘s powertrain technology, has scaled back those plans amid weak customer interest.
Its near-term focus is on plug-in hybrids, led by the Valhalla mid-engine supercar.
Bugatti Rimac’s CEO, meanwhile, has noted waning demand for electric hypercars, impacting sales of models such as the Nevera.
Nio’s US Backdoor — Without the EVs
In the US, the Chinese EV maker cannot sell vehicles directly due to regulatory barriers, tariffs exceeding 100%, and the US Commerce Department’s connected car rule banning imports of Chinese-made connected vehicles.
As EV exclusively reported in June 2025, Nio halted its US expansion plans entirely, laying off its Chief Business Officer Saurabh Bhatnagar — one of the company’s longest-serving US executives — along with the entire Go-To-Market team.
A former member of Nio‘s US team said in October 2025 that the company would not sell cars directly in the United States, but that its technology would appear there through McLaren.
“Nick Collins did a great job with backdoor merging McLaren into a master Nio tech licensing agreement, so you’ll likely see some pieces of Nio on US roads,” the former employee said.
Last January, Nio VP Chen said publicly that “the US market is a tough market. You have to have a local assembly to make sure that you can sell cars in the US market.”
With McLaren now committing to combustion powertrains through 2030, the scope of Nio technology appearing on US roads in the near term appears limited to hybrid battery components rather than the full EV platforms and software originally envisioned under the licensing deal.
Americas Expansion
Nio‘s Americas strategy has meanwhile taken shape through other channels.
In late March, the company opened its first showroom in the Western Hemisphere in San José, Costa Rica — making it the first market outside China where all three Nio Group brands are available simultaneously.
In Canada, the potential for Nio to enter the market opened up after Ottawa said in January it was slashing the 100% tariff on Chinese EV imports to 6.1%, a duty introduced in late 2024 in line with the US measure.
While the possibility of a Canadian entry can now be inferred, Nio has never indicated plans to enter the market and has not confirmed or commented on the prospect.
McLaren sells in Canada through an established dealer network.
What Comes Next
Collins told Autocar that full-sized models of every new car McLaren plans to launch before 2030 have already been shown to dealers, suggesting multiple vehicles are in the pipeline.
The first public reveal is expected this summer, likely timed to the start of deliveries of the W1 hypercar.
“From this summer, we start to go external [with our plans], whether it’s because we’re starting to deliver W1s or because we’re showing you product,” Collins said.
Collins had initially promised to outline the product strategy before the end of 2025 but said that was delayed for strategic reasons.
For Nio, the question remains whether the technology licence generates meaningful revenue or remains a low-volume arrangement that primarily supports McLaren’s hybrid programme — rather than the full-scale EV showcase that CYVN’s original vision appeared to promise.
Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding has invested approximately £1.5 billion ($2.0 billion) in McLaren to date, according to Autocar.
US-listed Nio shares were trading at approximately $6.40 as of Wednesday morning, as the broader market digests Trump’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict.
