Porsche has announced that the next generation of the Macan will be fully electric. It will be the first all electric compact SUV from the brand, and is set to roll off the assembly line at the start of the next decade. The development represents an expansion of the Porsche range in the field of electromobility: the Taycan will be launched to market at the end of 2019, followed shortly thereafter by its derivative, the Taycan Cross Turismo.
“By 2022 we will be investing more than six billion euros in electric mobility, and by 2025 50 percent of all new Porsche vehicles could have an electric drive system. Nevertheless, over the next ten years we will focus on a drive mix consisting of even further optimised petrol engines, plug-in hybrid models, and purely electrically operated sports cars,” says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Management of Porsche AG.
The next generation Macan will be manufactured at the company’s Leipzig site, where it will be produced on the existing production line. Like the Taycan, this compact SUV features 800-volt technology and is based on the Porsche PPE architecture (Premium Platform Electric) developed in collaboration with Audi AG.
Since starting series production of the Cayenne in 2002 with 259 employees, Porsche Leipzig GmbH has been continually developed to become one of the most advanced and sustainable production facilities in the automotive industry. When the Macan was launched eight years ago, the Leipzig plant was expanded into a “full plant” that included its own body shop and paint shop. When the factory started operations in February 2014, 40,000 units per year of the compact SUV were planned but today it produces more than 90,000 units annually for global markets.
What is currently the final expansion stage was put into operation two years ago, making it possible for the Panamera to now also be fully manufactured in Leipzig, and bringing employee numbers up to today’s figure of more than 4,000. Since the groundbreaking ceremony in February 2000, Porsche has invested more than 1.3 billion euros in developing the Leipzig plant.
