New 2022 Porsche Macan EV spied for the very first time

Porsche will soon introduce a radical reinvention of its best-selling model: the Macan SUV. It will adopt an all-new platform that will turn the car all-electric, making it Porsche’s second EV following the recently released Taycan.

These spy shots are the first images of the second-generation version of the brand’s breadwinner, and they tell quite a story. A massive design overhaul is coming, with the Macan moving to a more coupé SUV-like silhouette as well as taking clear inspiration from its Taycan sibling.

Porsche designers are looking to put a lot of distance between the old and new Macans for one very important reason: both the current car and the second-generation model will be sold alongside each other for some time, offering Macan buyers the choice of four or six-cylinder petrol power in the old car, or a pure-electric drivetrain in the newcomer.

Our exclusive image shows the new Macan will have a similar front end to the Taycan, with slimmer LED headlights sunk into the nose. At the back there are new tail-lights too, and a small active aero wing will be a part of the package. The tailpipes on this mule are fake; the same ones were applied to Taycan prototypes.

However, it’s when we look at the car in profile that the biggest change emerges: the new Macan will be a coupé-SUV, with the more aerodynamic shape perfectly suited to the new battery-electric drivetrain.

New 2022 Porsche Macan: platform and tech

The 2022 Macan will be the first VW Group car to sit on a new platform called Premium Platform Electric (PPE). It’s best seen as an all-electric counterpart to the current Macan’s MLB platform, intended for larger and higher-riding cars than MEB, the group’s electric MQB equivalent.

Technical details are limited, but the PPE platform will match the Taycan’s 800V/350kW charging capability. This hints that the Macan will target a long range on a single charge; Porsche could look to make its electric SUV a long-range EV compared with the sportier Taycan, with a 500-kilometre-plus variant crowning a Macan EV line-up consisting of rear and all-wheel-drive versions with different ranges, performance levels and prices.

Since its introduction in 2014, the SUV has been a huge success for the German firm, with just shy of 100,000 examples being sold around the world last year. But after only one generation Porsche will radically overhaul the model, as explained to us earlier in the year by Porsche’s research and development boss.

“We already started the development of an electric Macan,” Dr Michael Steiner, Porsche’s executive board member for R&D, told Automotive Daily. “It is an obligation for us, at Porsche, to think about and work on sporty answers to electric cars.”

The move to radically overhaul the firm’s most popular new car is considered to be a risky decision, given the relatively small, but growing, market share EVs currently have around the world. So to counter any resistance from buyers who may not want an electric Macan, Porsche will continue to sell the existing SUV alongside the all-new version.

“The electric Macan will be based on a new electric platform, not a derivative,” Steiner explained to us. “It was developed jointly with Audi, and is called the PPE. Knowing that there is not a lot of speed in the transition from ICE to electric, we are preparing to have both paths running in parallel.

“For a few years, the internal-combustion-engined Macan of today will be sold in parallel with the new fully electric car,” he told us. “And it depends on the market demand all around the world how long we will have both.”

The Macan will be the first vehicle to use the new PPE platform, but Dr Steiner told us it opens up the possibility of many more electric variants.“PPE is totally different from the Taycan’s [J1 platform]. That was designed for cars sitting low, the PPE for the Macan is designed for high-floor cars, so there could be [electric] derivatives in the range of SUVs. But this platform is totally new,” Dr Steiner said.

James Brodie