Porsche Macan: Petrol successor to launch by 2028, possibly with a new name

With production of the first-generation Porsche Macan set to finish up in 2026, the German luxury/performance car brand will be without a petrol-powered version of its best-selling model globally.

Porsche has already stopped making petrol Macans for Europe and Australia, but they remain on sale – for now – in North America and elsewhere.

Launched in 2024, the second-generation Macan (pictured below) is an electric-only model. Unfortunately for Porsche and many other automakers, EV demand hasn’t matched their expectations – especially in the US – which has necessitated a rethink about their EV plans.

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In a recent call with investors, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume confirmed the automaker will “hedge” its EV strategy by “developing a compact SUV with both ICE and hybrid versions” to complement the Macan EV.

He said the company is “speeding up the process there with very short development times”, and expected the new mid-size SUV to be launched into major markets “no later than 2028”.

The tight development timeline suggests the petrol Macan replacement will be based on the Volkswagen Group’s Platform Premium Combustion (PPC), an evolution and replacement for the MLB architecture that underpinned the original Macan. Earlier rumours indicated Porsche might re-engineer the second-generation Macan’s EV platform to accept a petrol engine.

Like the first Macan, the new SUV will likely share a lot in common with the third-generation Audi Q5, production of which began late last year.

Naturally, with the petrol Macan replacement just receiving the green light, Mr Blume didn’t give too much away about the vehicle, but he said it would be “very, very typical Porsche for this segment and also differentiated from the BEV Macan”, leading some to speculate the new SUV will have a different name.

We can glean some clues about the new SUV’s powertrains from the latest Q5, which is available with a choice of 48V mild-hybrid petrol and diesel drivetrains, as well as a selection of plug-in hybrid drivetrains.

Porsche has foresworn diesel engines, so that leaves behind the base Q5 TFSI with a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, and the SQ5 with a 3.0-litre turbo V6.

The Q5 2.0 TFSI makes 150kW of power and 340Nm of torque, has a seven-speed automatic transmission, and is available in both front- and all-wheel drive. The former requires 8.6 seconds to complete the 0-100km/h dash, while the latter needs just 7.4 seconds (claimed).

As for the SQ5, it has 270kW and 550Nm at its disposal, a standard seven-speed auto paired with all-wheel drive, and a claimed 0-100km/h time of just 4.5 seconds.

The Q5 e-hybrid is available in both 220kW/450Nm and 270kW/500Nm specs. For the more powerful variant, the official 0-100km/h time is 5.1 seconds.

Both have an all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid system that pairs a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder with a 105kW electric motor built into the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The electric motor is fed by a 25.9kWh battery offering up to 100km of EV range under WLTP testing, and which supports AC charging up to 11kW, but not DC fast-charging.

With the fast-approaching launch date, Porsche’s new SUV may well use the Q5’s drivetrains as is, or spruce them up a bit with pinch of horsepower here and a dash of torque there.

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