The Electric Porsche Macan Debuts With ‘Turbo’ Power

The all-wheel-drive Macan will be available in two trims: the $80,450 Macan 4 and the $106,950 Macan Turbo. Wait, Turbo?

Courtesy Porsche
The electronic Porsche Macan. Courtesy Porsche

Porsche is putting its money where the Macan is.

The German automaker has revealed the all-new, all-electric Macan compact SUV that will be hitting showrooms later this year.

The current gas-powered Macan is Porsche’s best-seller in the U.S., so it’s a bold choice for the brand’s second electric model. The first was the Taycan that launched in 2020. It now outsells the similarly sized Panamera.

Porsche delivered 40,000 Taycans globally last year. Tesla doesn’t separate Model S and Model X sales, but it delivered 68,000 of the pair, which are priced well below the Taycan’s $90,000 to $200,000 range. The Taycan is definitely a player.

Courtesy Porsche

The Macan will compete with the smaller Tesla Model Y, which was the world’s most popular vehicle in 2023 with 1.2 million sold. Porsche won’t be aiming for such success, because it will be focused on the high end of the segment.

The all-wheel-drive Macan will be available in two trims: the $80,450 Macan 4 and the $106,950 Macan Turbo. Wait, Turbo?

No, Porsche hasn’t come up with some revolutionary new electric powertrain that involves forced air induction. It has just decided to keep using Turbo to denote its sportiest vehicles, regardless of where they get their performance from. Anyone who used a computer in the 1980s might relate.

The Macan Turbo will have no problem processing speed. It has 630 hp and can accelerate to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds. Its maximum velocity is 161 mph and it has more torque than most pickups, allowing it to tow up to 4,409 pounds. Few will complain about the Macan 4’s 402 hp and 4.9-second sprint to 60 mph.

The Porsche Macan Turbo. Courtesy Porsche

Some of that capability can be chalked up to the Macan’s tortoise-like shape, which is aerodynamically efficient, if not particularly original. The Macan 4 and Macan Turbo are rated at 381 miles and 367 miles per charge on a European scale that’s typically around 20% more optimistic than the EPA’s. Final U.S. testing is not complete.

Regardless, the Macan’s ranges beat any Model Y and its 95 kilowatt-hour battery can be filled from 10 percent to 80 percent in 21 minutes at the fastest public charging stations, so it was designed to go the distance.

A smooth, computer-controlled air suspension system is standard and four-wheel steering is an option that allows the Macan to make tight turns at low speeds while improving stability at high ones.

Three digital displays are arranged across the dashboard, with the front passenger getting their own screen. An augmented reality system projected onto the windshield provides the driver with information and directions that appear to be on an 87-inch display hovering above the road 32.8 feet in front of the vehicle.

The Porsche Macan Turbo. batter. Courtesy Porsche

There is a small “frunk” storage compartment under the hood, while the rear cargo area is more conventional and can be expanded by folding down the rear seatbacks.

Go crazy with the myriad options Porsche offers, including carbon fiber wheels and “deviated” stitching for the upholstery in any color you like, and it’s possible to get the final price of a Turbo over $160,000. Porsche definitely knows how to make a buck by making its customers feel like they bought something special.

The Macan will be built in Leipzig, Germany alongside another vehicle: the old Macan.

Come on, did you think Porsche was that foolhardy? Of course it’s going to keep selling it while it sees how this new one works out. The decade-old internal combustion engine version won’t be getting any updates, but its sales would suggest it doesn’t need any. At least not in the U.S.

A front end storage compartment in the new Porsche Macan.Courtesy Porsche

Things are different in Europe where Porsche won’t even be allowed to sell its older lines at all   starting in July, thanks to a new cybersecurity law the vehicle’s aging architecture can’t comply with. That’s not a problem in the U.S., U.K., China or anywhere else, and Porsche hasn’t put an end date on its production just yet.

That’s called hedging your bets.


The New York Sun

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