Porsche’s sports SUV powers into the electric age, and we’ve been for a ride On sale Summer Price from £69,800
George Hill george.hill@haymarket.com
IT’S NO SECRET that Porsche prefers evolution rather than revolution when it comes to launching new models. Just take a look at its 911 sports car; it has built up an extremely strong following, having remained very true to its original 1964 form over the decades.
At first glance, the new Porsche Macan seems to follow a similar path, bearing a close resemblance to the original. Beneath the surface, though, it couldn’t be more different, having swapped petrol power for a pair of electric motors and a battery.
Indeed, the all-new Macan takes Porsche into the ever-growing electric SUV segment, with rivals including the BMW iX3, Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV and upcoming Polestar 3. More significantly, it will also be going up against the new Audi Q6 e-tron, with which it shares its underpinnings. However, the Macan will be aimed towards sports SUV buyers, whereas the Q6 e-tron will be more comfort orientated.
Helping to define the Macan as a sports SUV is the fact that the dual motors of the top model – named Macan Turbo – produce up to 630bhp and 833lb ft of torque. That’s 196bhp and 428lb ft more than the most powerful version of the current petrol-powered Macan can muster, and 120bhp more than the range-topping version of the Q6.
The result of all that power is that the Macan Turbo can sprint from 0-62mph in just 3.3sec; that’s quicker than the 603bhp (and much pricier) Lotus Eletre S. If that seems a bit much, there’s also the Macan 4. Like the Turbo, it’s powered by two electric motors (with one powering the front wheels and the other the rears, giving it four-wheel drive), but here the total is 402bhp and 479lb ft of torque. That brings a more leisurely – but by no means slow – 0-62mph dash of 5.1sec.
Powering both versions of the Macan is a 100kWh (total capacity) battery, which in the Macan 4 delivers an official range of 381 miles. In the Macan Turbo, that figure drops to 347 miles, but that’s still respectable.
As in the Porsche Taycan, the Macan’s battery can be topped up at rates of up to 270kW. This means a 10-80% charge should take around 21 minutes from a suitably powerful public rapid charger – figures that are close to those of the upcoming Polestar 3.
While very much identifiable as a Macan, the new model shares styling cues with the Taycan, including rectangular LED headlights and a full-w
