Porsche Macan EV not aimed at Tesla

Porsche says it is focused on building high-performance electric SUVs that buyers are prepared to splash their cash on rather than ones that just claim impressively low 0-100km/h acceleration figures.

In a veiled swipe at Tesla, Porsche’s vice-president of the Macan product line, Jörg Kerner, says the company is not fixated on the American EV-maker that has set the sales pace in the electric car market with cars that often blast to triple figures with supercar-like enthusiasm.

Instead, he says Porsche is working on creating electric cars that live up to the broader Porsche brand ethos by combining crisp cornering dynamics with top-shelf braking performance and genuine driver appeal.

To achieve that, Kerner said traditional Porsche targets were set in developing one of the boldest models to come from the German performance vehicle brand in years.

“It’s not the right way to look all the time at other competitors,” said Kerner.

“You need s strategy of your own, you make a target of your own… and don’t look always left or right… because the result wouldn’t be the best.”

Kerner suggested Tesla was not selling big numbers of some of its ultra-high-performance cars, including the Plaid variants of the Model S and X that are available overseas.

Local sales figures show it’s the more affordable variants of the Model 3 and Y – particularly Rear-Wheel Drive models – that account for the bulk of Tesla sales.

Sales figures for the first three months of 2024 supplied by the EV Council show that of the 6835 Tesla Model Y vehicles registered, just 163 were the Performance variant. That works out to an annualised figure south of 1000.

To put it in perspective, Porsche is planning to make the new all-electric Macan a big seller in the luxury performance SUV space. That means something like 3000 Australian sales each year, possibly more.

“For us it’s very important that what we develop cars customers buy,” says Kerner. “I develop cars for customers and not for other competitors.”

Part of Porsche’s success can no doubt be put down to reputation and the positioning of the brand in the upper levels of the performance and luxury car market. Those are things that will be put to the test with the new Macan EV.

Priced from $133,700 plus on-road ahead of its Australian release in late 2024, the all-new battery-electric mid-size luxury SUV will be $40K more expensive than the model it replaces at base level.

While Porsche is readying more affordable Macan EV variants – including a single-motor rear-wheel drive entry version – all are expected to cost well over $100K.

That means all versions of the Macan EV will cost more than even the most expensive Tesla Model Y, which recently had $8500 slashed from its price, making it $82,900 plus ORCs.

But Porsche is still confident it will sell more electric Macans than it did the petrol-powered models, which will no longer be available to order by the end of next month.

Speaking at the launch of the Macan EV’s global reveal in February, Porsche’s deputy chairman of the executive board for finance and IT, Lutz Meschke, told carsales the new Macan EV will outsell the ICE versions.

That remains to be seen and the new Macan will also be a crucial test for future Porsche electric SUVs.

Like the Macan, the next-generation Porsche Cayenne will switch to electric-only propulsion in 2026, as part of a plan to transition 80 per cent of Porsche sales to EV – both globally and in Australia.

And within months Porsche will unveil its all-new 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars, which are also ditching petrol for electricity in a bold EV move on the sports car market, but one which could see the iconic junior coupe and roadster become unavailable for up to two years.

Porsche is also developing a larger seven-seat all-electric flagship SUV for 2027, meaning it will launch one all-new and three new EV-only model lines within the next four years.

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