Earlier this year, Porsche announced it had begun road-testing the all-electric next-generation Macan, sending camouflaged prototypes out to the real world. One of those prototypes has been spotted by our spy photographers, who even got a good peek at the interior.
The cabin shares many traits with other new models from Zuffenhausen, such as an upright centre touchscreen integrated into the clean horizontal dashboard architecture (with what appears to be space for another display for the front passenger, just like the Taycan), a tall centre console and lots of gloss black trim.
As per the Taycan, there’s another touchscreen atop the central tunnel; this time, however, there are physical toggles embedded into the display and a volume knob underneath, presumably to make it a trite easier to adjust some of the controls while on the move. The stubby toggle-style gear selector is another element lifted from the electric sedan.
Things get a little weird ahead of the driver. Unlike the Taycan, the digital instrument display takes the form of a flat freestanding panel instead of a curved screen, although a fake cover has been fitted to throw off casual onlookers. Even more bizarre is a massive curved plastic panel atop the dash, which we can only assume houses a large head-up display, possibly with augmented reality technology.
The exterior is as we’ve seen in previous official photos, showing a sleeker, more coupé-like profile compared to the current petrol-powered Macan. At the front, Porsche is jumping onto the split headlight bandwagon already populated by several other SUV makers, with the slim upper unit housing the characteristic four-point LED daytime running lights and the main lamps nestled within the large corner air intakes. There’s also a slim centre inlet sitting underneath a fake decal.
Along the side, the company has done a good job disguising the teardrop-shaped side windows that will eventually make it to the production vehicle, while the rear end continues to feature slim full-width taillights. There’s yet more trickery to be found on the rear bumper, which features twin “tailpipes” that obviously won’t be seen on the finalised model.
Under the skin, the new Macan will be built on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE), jointly developed with Audi. As such, it will likely share much of its mechanical makeup with another SUV, the Q6 e-tron, just like how the e-tron GT is essentially a reskinned Taycan. And like the Taycan, the Macan will be built on an 800-volt electrical architecture.
Porsche previously said this will allow for longer ranges (previous reports state that PPE-based models will deliver a range of up to 480 km, with battery capacities of up to 100 kWh), high-performance fast charging (up to 350 kW, besting the Taycan’s 270 kW) and repeatable hard acceleration.
The new Macan is due to go into production in 2023, which is a long wait considering that the current model is already eight years old. Plus, the Macan is a very popular car globally, and not all markets have the demand and the infrastructure to support an electric model. To solve these issues, Porsche is launching a revamped version of the first generation this year, with pure internal combustion power.
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