Porsche is delaying the launch of its ground-breaking Macan EV SUV by a year over software … [+]
Porsche is delaying the launch of its all-new 2023 Macan SUV EV for a year, in news that comes less than a month after the German sports car powerhouse’s successful IPO.
The launch of the Macan EV was originally timed for next year, but now the mid-sized SUV successor the the highly successful Macan will not be seen until 2024, at the earliest.
Porsche insiders have put the blame on software development delays and bugs, which is a massive blow for the EV that was to be the first to use the Volkswagen Group’s all-new premium EV platform, dubbed Premium Platform Electric (PPE).
Porsche has been testing Macan EV prototypes since early last year, and confirmed it would run 800-Volt architecture and would have “improvements in range” over current EV SUVs.
The company is planning on half of its cars being electrified by 2025 (which would include hybrids and EVs), and 14% of its sales were EVs last year.
A joint development between Audi and Porsche, the PPE architecture is said by Britain’s Autocar magazine to be hamstrung by the E3 1.2 software platform, developed by Volkswagen’s Berlin-based software spin-off, Cariad.
Porsche’s IPO prospectus already warned of potential complications from Cariad developing and E3 2.0 software stack alongside upgrades of the existing E3 1.2 system.
Fingers will be pointed at the timing of the Macan’s delay and whether an earlier announcement may have had a material impact on the float of 911 million shares in September, which valued Porsche at €75 billion.
There is also likely to be a knock-on effect on other new models scheduled to roll out on the PPE architecture, including the all-electric Boxster and Cayman twins and the next Cayenne large SUV.
Audi also has a raft of new models slated to use the PPE platform, including the next Q7 and Q5 SUVs and e-tron GT replacement.
The Volkswagen Group is ploughing ahead with plans to switch all of its future EVs to a single platform, dubbed Scalable Systems Platform (SSV), which would replace the PPE platform and be used beneath everything from full luxury Bentleys to cut-price city cars.
Porsche, though, has reserved the right to opt out of SSV, and that may include going its own way with the PPE software stack, cutting the expensively set up Cariad out of the loop almost entirely.
It is already confirmed to be planning a new boutique two-door EV platform and will convert SSV to SSP (“P” for Performance).
Insiders have suggested the delay in the Macan’s production and the Porsche disappointment in the supplied software stack may relate to long-held differences of opinion between Porsche boss Oliver Blume and Audi boss Markus Duesmann.
Sources have pinpointed a “irregular” dynamic between the two premium brand bosses as the disrupting force behind the PPE and electronics development for the last two years.
The sources insisted the two camps have been demanding more and more unique pieces for their own brand identities, reducing the economies of scale planned for PPE.
To head minimise the risk of this with the SSP platform, though, Porsche has been given the development lead, with Duesmann left politically isolated by the departure of Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, his former BMW colleague.
