Following record-breaking North American sales in 2023, Porsche is kicking off the new year with all-new electric versions of its popular Macan sport utility vehicle.
On Thursday, the German high-performance luxury automaker unveiled the 2024 Macan 4 and Macan Turbo EVs, a pair of all-wheel drive vehicles that promise Porsche performance in electric form housed in one of America’s favorite platforms – the SUV.
Porsche launched the two-row Macan, its name derived from the Indonesian word for tiger, a decade ago as a conventional internal combustion vehicle. The compact SUV has emerged as the brand’s North American sales leader. Now it will be the first established Porsche nameplate to become an EV.
The Macan 4 will start near $80,000 and the Turbo will start at more than $100,000, not including certain fees. The models will not qualify for current U.S. electric vehicle tax credits because of their price and because they are assembled in Germany.
Timo Resch, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America, which is based in Atlanta, said the brand sold some 27,000 gas-powered Macans last year in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. That’s about one-third of Porsche’s total sales of more than 75,000 on the continent, which was a new record.
“Macan has created a brand name for itself,” Resch said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In this high point of the Macan, Porsche customers know what they’re getting into, and we have the possibility with the (electrified) Macan to attract new customers to the Porsche brand.”
Credit: Special
Credit: Special
Re-launching a brand’s sales leader as an EV also comes with risk, especially for a storied brand best known for high-octane gasoline-powered sports cars and SUVs.
But the new Macans, at least on paper and in images released on Thursday, appear to live up to Porsche’s reputation for excitement.
The Macan 4 produces up to 402 horsepower and can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 5 seconds, according to the company. The Macan Turbo, with 630 horsepower, can reach 60 from a dead stop in 3.1 seconds.
“It’s a Macan,” Resch said of the new electric models. “All the elements of exciting design and driving dynamics.”
The electric Macans will ride on the Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Electric (PPE) with 800-volt architecture, which will is also a key platform for corporate cousin Audi.
Credit: Special
Credit: Special
The Macan EVs will be capable of being recharged from 10% of battery capacity to 80% in as fast as 21 minutes at a compatible charging station, the company said. The SUVs also feature the sorts of in-cabin and driving technology that motorists have come to expect in a Porsche.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the Macan 4 is $78,800. That figure climbs to $105,300 for the Turbo. Those prices do not include a $1,650 fee for delivery, processing and handling. Porsche says the Macan can now be ordered with deliveries expected to begin during the second half of this year.
Environmental Protection Agency-estimated driving ranges were not released Thursday but are expected later this year.
Georgia is long been an automotive hub, formerly home to General Motors and Ford plants and now home to a Kia factory in West Point, the future Hyundai Metaplant EV factory near Savannah and a future Rivian EV factory near Social Circle. The state is also home to the North American headquarters of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, which has test track as part of its campus near the Atlanta airport.
The electric Macans are built in Leipzig, Germany. But the U.S. is a top market for Porsche.
Resch declined to offer sales projections for the electric Macans. Last year, with one purely electric model, the Taycan, EVs accounted for about 10% of the company’s North American sales.
The Taycan is a competitor to the Tesla Model S sedan. With the electric Macan, Porsche enters a highly competitive luxury SUV and crossover market that includes the BMW iX, Cadillac Lyriq, Genesis GV70 Electrified, Mercedes-Benz EQE and Tesla Model Y.
Other automakers are also rushing into the electric SUV and crossover market as the auto industry goes about its biggest transformation in decades. EV sales in the U.S. topped 1 million last year for the first time ever. Though electric vehicle sales are growing, they’re not surging as fast as some in the industry had hoped.
Resch declined to offer estimates for Porsche’s expected total sales for 2024, but he said January is off to a good start. Porsche also introduced last year a redesigned Cayenne large SUV and will soon deliver to dealerships the redesigned large executive-class Panamera.
“2023 has been very successful and we’re entering 2024 with new cars lined up,” said Resch, who took on the role of North American chief executive late last year.
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