Porsche's sales of electric cars are lagging badly. So now the Germans are investigating the possibility of reviving the Macan as a petrol car, says the finance director.
German Porsche is now so squeezed by the sales of electric cars that the people from Zuffenhausen are considering equipping the new, electric Macan with a combustion engine.
That step has come closer after a significant drop in sales of Porsche's electric cars, including a halving in sales of the Taycan model over the course of 2024.
The decline in electric car sales has led Porsche to reassess the brand's strategy, which aims for 80 percent of the company's global sales to consist of electric cars by 2030. This is confirmed by Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke to Autocar .
– We are investigating the possibility of equipping some of the originally planned electric models with hybrid drives or combustion engines in the future.
An anonymous source from Porsche confirms that the Macan is one of the models that could potentially get an internal combustion engine.
– The reception of the new electric Macan has been positive, but we have yet to see its long-term value, given the uncertain market conditions.
The source continues:
– The decline in Taycan sales highlights new market dynamics. We cannot rely solely on traditional assumptions about consumer behavior.
The Macan, introduced in 2013, has long been Porsche's bestseller. The latest version of the Macan is available – at least in Europe – exclusively as an electric car.
Porsche says that this is officially due to new cybersecurity laws. Laws that the combustion engine version cannot comply with. In other countries, however, the car is still sold with a gasoline engine.
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– Conceptual decisions are being made, but what is clear is that we are committed to combustion engines for a much longer time, says Lutz Meschke.
Reintroducing the Macan with a combustion engine, if the Germans take the idea seriously, will not be a breakthrough in the industry. Fiat, which is also under pressure when it comes to selling electric cars, is already doing so with the small 500.
The 500e electric car will be joined in the model range by a petrol hybrid in 2025. However, production of the electric car is currently at a standstill because sales are so poor.
In fact, the process of emptying the warehouses is so slow and so bad that last year the North American importer offered its customers 'free' leasing agreements. All that was required was a very high registration fee to the state.
