Porsche Macan set for record sales with switch to EV

The all-new 2024 Porsche Macan EV is set to become a sales hit for the sports car specialist.

Porsche plans to sell more all-electric Macans than it did the petrol- and diesel-powered models that have been on sale since 2014.

That would continue its reign as the German brand’s top-selling car – and potentially increase its share against petrol-fuelled rivals.

Speaking at the launch of the all-electric Macan that’s due in Australia late in 2024, Porsche’s deputy chairman of the executive board for finance and IT, Lutz Meschke, told carsales the company had big aspirations for the mid-size SUV newcomer – and that it would outsell the ICE versions.

“Of course, that’s the target for the future,” said Meschke, while adding that “we don’t steer our business by volume”.

In 2023, Porsche sold 87,355 Macans globally, which accounted for 27.3 per cent of the brand’s overall sales.

In Australia, the Macan share is much higher; the company recorded 2925 sales – or 48 per cent of total sales.

That also makes the Macan a serious contender against luxury rivals. It outsells the Volvo XC60 locally, for example, and fights hard against the Mercedes-Benz GLC (5431), BMW X3 and X4 (4777) and Audi Q5 (4210).

But the shift to EV could provide renewed sales interest for Porsche as the luxury market outpaces mainstream brands in the shift to electric.

Production of petrol Macans for Australia will end in the third quarter of this year but continues for other markets until 2026.

Last year in Australia, 36 per cent of the 168,213 prestige and luxury models sold were powered purely by electricity.

Admittedly, that figure is dragged up by EV-only brands, predominantly Tesla, but even among Porsche’s traditional rivals there’s a fast-rising proportion of EV sales.

What’s more, the Taycan that plays at the pricey end of the sports sedan market helped push Porsche to an 8.8 per cent EV mix last year.

In 2023, 13.1 per cent of Mercedes-Benz’s Australian sales were electric while for BMW the figure was 11.4 per cent.

Drilling down to the mid-size SUV segment suggested an even hotter appetite for EVs, which is encouraging given the slender choice of models.

Of all medium SUVs priced above $60,000, 46 per cent of them – almost half – were powered only by electricity.

Of the premium brands, the BMW iX3 accounted for almost one in five X3 sales, for example – and that’s despite only being offered in two identically-powered rear-wheel drive model variants (most premium SUVs drive all four wheels).

All of which suggests Porsche could have an early hit for EV-hungry luxury buyers.

And with better performance and more features than the outgoing model, the Macan EV arrives with a compelling sales pitch – one set to improve as more model variants are rolled out.

The new Macan is also planned to boost the profits for the company – helped by significant price rises.

The Macan 4 is the most affordable of two new-gen Macan models announced so far, with pricing at $133,100 plus on-road costs.

There will also be at least one single-motor/rear-wheel drive Macan variant that’s expected to be priced closer to $115,000.

Each is still a long way north of the $93,800 plus ORCs start price of the soon-to-be-discontinued petrol-fed Macan.

Meschke said there was more equipment and a healthier profit margin as the company works to grow its return on sales to more than 20 per cent.

“We see also synergies in the future, we expect a huge scaling effect starting in 25/26,” he said of manufacturing the electric Macan.

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