Porsche's best-selling vehicle in the U.S., the Macan, will go all-electric when the crossover is redesigned early next decade.
The German brand, long a purveyor of high-performance sports cars powered by gasoline engines, is accelerating a push into EVs amid a race with other luxury rivals to meet more stringent emissions laws in key markets such as China and Europe.
Production of the second-generation, battery-powered compact crossover will begin "early in the next decade" in Leipzig, Germany, Porsche said Tuesday. The plans were first reported by the Financial Times on Monday.
The electric Macan will follow the Taycan, a 600 hp battery electric sedan expected to arrive later this year. The Taycan is at the vanguard of a wave of electrified Porsche vehicles.
"We expect by 2025, roughly 50 percent of our products to be electrified, either with a fully electric engine or with a plug-in hybrid," Porsche sales chief Detlev von Platen told Automotive News last year.
An electric powertrain allows Porsche to meet tougher emissions standards, without sacrificing the essence of the brand — performance.
Turbocharging can only increase the performance of an internal combustion engine so far, said Sam Fiorani, vice president at AutoForecast Solutions.
"As horsepower increases, fuel economy decreases and emissions increase," Fiorani said. "For vehicles competing at the performance level of Porsche, electric motors easily drop acceleration times and still meet future emissions regulations."
The electric Macan will be based on the PPE architecture — premium platform electric — developed in collaboration with Audi AG. Like the Taycan, the next-gen Macan will use 800-volt technology.
The Macan, launched in 2014, has become a conquest vehicle for Porsche by drawing new customers to the brand. The automaker sold 23,504 Macans in the U.S. last year, an increase of 10 percent from 2017.
