But German performance car brand won’t turn its back on boxer-engined sports cars
Porsche will release no fewer than four EVs within the next five years, but three of them will be SUVs and there’s no plan to axe the German brand’s famous boxer-engined sports cars.
The first Porsche electric vehicle will be the Macan EV, which enters production in 2024, followed by the next-generation 718 sports cars and the Cayenne EV in 2025.
Announced in February under the K1 codename, the new SUV will be Porsche’s seventh model line, its second dedicated EV after the Taycan and a key plank in the German performance car brand’s plan for EVs to account for 80 per cent of its sales by 2030.
Porsche PPE platform
Like the 2024 Macan EV, Porsche’s new flagship EV is expected to be a (much larger) coupe-style five-seat SUV based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture and produced in Leipzig.
It will improve on the Taycan by combining an 800-volt electrical system with a big 100kWh battery and two in-house-developed (instead of Magneti Morelli-sourced) e-motors to deliver 450kW of power and more than 1000Nm of torque.
This should result in a 0-100km/h sprint time of less than four seconds and a driving range of up to 700km.
The Macan EV’s batteries have been engineered to DC fast-charge at up to 350kW, with Porsche targeting a 5-80 per cent charge time of less than 25 minutes, so expect the K1 to at least match that given it will be much more expensive and aimed at well-heeled American and Chinese buyers.
Current Porsche Macan
Before then, the 2025 Cayenne EV will introduce Porsche’s new high-performance SSP Sport platform with a 920V electrical architecture that should be capable of fast-charging at up to 450kW.
Announced by Porsche CEO Oliver Blume along with record sales and profit results in March, the Cayenne EV will be sold alongside combustion and hybrid versions of the third-generation Cayenne, which have just received a comprehensive facelift to keep them fresh until late this decade.
So far only the upgraded MY23 Cayenne, Cayenne E-Hybrid, Cayenne S and Cayenne GT Turbo have been launched, with updated MY24 Cayenne GTS, Turbo and Turbo S E-Hybrid variants to follow next year.
A third plug-in hybrid variant will also be added next year in the middle of the Cayenne range, which will likely be the final new combustion-powered Cayennes to be released.
Speaking to carsales at the global launch of the upgraded SUV, Cayenne marketing manager Pascal Ackermann confirmed the cadence of upcoming Porsche SUVs and that the first Cayenne EV will be part of the refreshed Cayenne range – despite being based on an entirely different platform and wearing an all-new body.
“The EV will be a Cayenne variant,” he said.
Ackermann confirmed the newly facelifted Cayenne petrol and PHEV line-up will be sold alongside the Cayenne EV for the foreseeable future.
Porsche Cayenne
Similarly, the 2024 Macan EV – Porsche’s answer to the top-selling Tesla Model Y – will join a comprehensively refreshed Macan line-up.
And Blume confirmed in March that the new 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars due in 2025 will be available with both EV and combustion powertrains, before switching entirely to all-electric in the “medium term”.
As part of its plan for 80 per cent of volume to be EVs by 2030, Porsche has also confirmed the next generations of both the Panamera and Taycan will be based on the SSP Sport EV platform, leaving the iconic 911 to be the last Porsche model to come in for the EV treatment.
In the meantime – and potentially beyond Europe’s ban on the sale of new combustion-powered vehicles from 2035 – boxer-powered 911 and 718 sports cars will live on with the help of e-fuel, including carbon-neutral petrol made in Tasmania from 2026.
What EVs are coming from Porsche?
Macan EV – 2024
Boxster and Cayman EVs – 2025
Cayenne EV – 2025
New flagship electric SUV – 2027
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Keyword: Porsche to launch four EVs within five years