
The New Porsche Macan Balances the Familiar With the Future
The German sports car marque has gone all in on electrifying its most popular model.
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You’ve got to hand it to Porsche. It can’t have been an easy decision to completely do away with petrol in favour of electrification on its most popular model. Alas, that’s what the Stuttgart-based sports car marque did with the new generation Macan, the first Porsche model to be transitioned into fully (and only) electric power.
To put the gamble into perspective, Macan accounts for around 50 percent of all Porsche sales in Australia and almost a third worldwide. Since its launch ten years ago, the mid-sized SUV has offered a range of inline-four and V6 engines, garnered a reputation as the driver’s SUV for its sports car-like dynamics, and has set the benchmark for nearly every similarly sized, high-performance SUV launched this decade. To say there’s a lot riding on this new all-electric generation is putting it lightly. The luxury EV market is in a precarious position right now, with demand waning and China breathing down the neck of legacy carmakers. However, Porsche, it would seem, isn’t worried. And by all accounts, neither should be future Macan owners, as this second generation is not just sleeker, smarter and quieter, but it’s faster and roomier. And at the top-end Turbo spec, a surprisingly good time.
When Porsche launched Taycan, it set the benchmark for how complete, soulful and driver-centric an electric GT could be, particularly when the competition at the time consisted of glorified smartphones on wheels, designed by Silicon Valley tech bros, who seemed to despise everything that was deemed sacred by car enthusiasts. Taycan, alongside its cousin vehicle, the Audi e-Tron GT proved that one can have zero tailpipe emissions and get their thrill-of-driving kicks too. As Porsche is wont to do, it’s this very same ethos that has been applied to the new Macan. It may have the body of a more rotund (and slightly eggy) SUV and the powertrain of an EV, but it very much still has the soul of a Porsche.
By the time you read this, orders for the existing ICE-powered Macan will have closed, leaving four electric Macan variants on the table for anyone wanting to purchase this mid-sized SUV new. The Macan, Macan 4, Macan 4S, and Macan Turbo range from $128,000 to $184,400 (plus on-road costs) and are powered by a 100kWh (96kWh usable) battery, which sends power to two motors at each axle (except for the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive base-level Macan). On the three all-wheel-drive variants, the dual electric motors are controlled by Porsche’s Traction Management system (ePTM), which operates in real-time and, according to Porsche, close to five times faster than the competing all-wheel drive systems. At the pointy end is the Macan Turbo, which takes this up a notch via its Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) program, an electronically controlled differential lock on the rear axle that helps with stability, lateral roll, and traction. The Macan Turbo is a laugh-out-loud joy to drive, with a total output of 470kW (with overboost and launch control), a very meaty 1,130 Nm of torque, top speed of 260km/h and a 0 to 100km/h sprint of just 3.3 seconds. It’s quick, planted and has plenty of driving feel, from your right foot to both your hands —especially when it comes to braking—which isn’t something many EVs can claim.
Macan is one of the most aerodynamic SUVs on the road, with a drag coefficient of 0.25. This explains the eggier shape and new active and passive aerodynamic elements that appear all over the car, as part of Porsche’s Active Aerodynamics system (PAA). These new elements include an adaptive rear spoiler, active cooling flaps on the front air intakes, flexible covers hidden on the underbody, lateral tear-off edges, and a louvred diffuser on the rear. Additionally, the vehicle features freshly designed headlights and a lower-slung front end. Depending on which variant you choose, higher-performance variants have slightly less range, just like a high-performance ICE car— all this equates to between 654km and 616km of (claimed) electric driving range.
Macan’s 800-volt architecture also allows DC charging of up to 270 kW, but on the more common 150kW DC chargers found throughout Australian cities, you can expect a 10 per cent to 80 per cent charge to be replenished in around half an hour. On the connectivity front, there are several new features, including new navigation elements to aid in route planning and realistic range or charging expectations. Additionally, an optional passenger infotainment system is available, which, when paired with the 12.6-inch curved instrument cluster and 10.9-inch central display, adds an extra 10.9-inch display across the passenger dash. The latter is a first for Macan and gives your co-driver the ability to control features such as music, maps, phone connectivity, and even stream video content, without distracting the driver.
Porsche’s approach to this new all-electric SUV is not that dissimilar from the original strategy that put Macan on the map and bolstered its decade-long reputation as the anti-SUV SUV. It’s also the same strategy that made Taycan a success: replicate a classic Porsche sports car feel in a spacious package, throw in a low-slung seating position, low-centre of gravity, weighty and precise steering, well-balanced degree of feedback and plenty of grunt when called upon; and you’ll convert the masses. While critics may say the trickiest part is convincing would-be Macan buyers they want an EV in the first place, one might also argue that, as we all inevitably move towards electrification, in the same way we moved towards mass SUV adoption, new Macan makes the argument it’s always made: but don’t you also want it to feel like a sports car?
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