Petrol Porsche Macan and 718 Boxster and Cayman order book to close soon

Order books for the existing petrol-powered Porsche Macan will snap shut within weeks as buyer interest builds for its all-new and all-electric replacement, which arrives in Australia late in the year.

Orders for the Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars will also close soon, ahead of an imminent EV onslaught from the German performance car specialist.

The Macan mid-size SUV – Porsche’s top-selling model – is set make a radical shift to an electric-only model as the brand plans for EVs to account for 80 per cent of its sales by the end of this decade.

Porsche says late May will be the last time customers can place an order for the current petrol-powered Macan, which makes up about half of its Australian sales.

Orders for what will be the last petrol-powered 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars will also close at the end of May, marking the end of Porsche’s iconic horizontally-opposed boxer engine in the two-seat sports cars.

“The final opportunity for customers to configure a Macan, 718 Boxster or 718 Cayman to their personal specification (ICE models) at an official Porsche Centre is the end of May 2024,” said a Porsche Cars Australia spokesperson.

Porsche announced in December that it would stop taking orders mid-year and then cease production of the current Macan, Boxster and Cayman in the third quarter of this year, but earlier this month said the outgoing Macan would be sold alongside the new Macan EV “for a while”.

Porsche announced pricing and opened the order book for the more expensive new Macan EV when it was revealed in January, but the May cut-off for orders of the last petrol Macan, Boxster and Cayman is much earlier than expected.

And it means the 718 twins could become unavailable for several years until their replacements arrive, whether or not they continue to be available with boxer engines.

While Macan, Boxster and Cayman customers may still be able to buy petrol-powered versions for many months to come through available dealer inventory, they will be pre-configured cars rather than ones that have been ordered to a particular specification.

In the meantime, Porsche is working on educating buyers around the benefits of its upcoming all-electric Macan, which steps up in price by tens of thousands of dollars and will initially be offered as the all-wheel drive Macan 4 ($133,700 plus on-road costs) and Macan Turbo ($180,100 plus ORCs).

Each offers significant performance gains over its equivalent existing model; the Macan Turbo EV makes up to 470kW and 1130Nm – enough for it to sprint to 100km/h in a claimed 3.3 seconds.

“Orders and expressions of interest for the new all-electric Macan are very high across the network ahead of its late 2024 arrival,” a PCA spokesperson told carsales.

Porsche previously said it will sell more electric Macans than petrol ones, which would translate to thousands of sales a year.

If that happens it will make the Macan one of the top-selling EVs in the country – and a car that provides a crucial indicator as to buyer interest in luxury electric SUVs.

Not that Porsche appears daunted by the challenge, especially considering its early EV success.

Porsche’s EV journey kicked off with the Taycan, which went on sale in Australia in 2020. Despite costing upwards of $175,100 plus on-road costs, the Taycan at times accounts for almost 10 per cent of Porsche’s local sales and is one of the most popular vehicles in the $70,000-plus large car category, which includes the likes of the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Audi A6.

While the new Macan won’t be in showrooms until late 2024, Porsche is encouraging buyers to experience what it can offer when it comes to EVs with the Taycan.

“Official Porsche centres are encouraging customers to experience the performance of an all-electric Porsche with a test drive of the Taycan,” said the PCA spokesperson.

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