Porsche was once exclusively a sports car company, until it made things weird by announcing the Cayenne. The goofy SUV was nonetheless a handling weapon and skyrocketed Porsche’s fortunes. The Macan came next, a smaller version at a cheaper price point, the Boxster to its 911. Over time, the brand’s baby SUVs has slowly evolved to become sleeker and fresher. Now, it looks like Porsche has gone with a bolder step-change with the launch of the new all-electric model. And, not gonna lie, I kinda love it.
Launch day for the EV Macan is still a few days away, but Porsche got trigger… uh, Twitter happy. It posted a sneak peek at drawings of the new model, which takes things in an ultimately sharper, more aggressive direction than its predecessor.
If cars do have faces, the new electric Macan isn’t just in a mood. It’s either sizing you up or making some kind of active threat, based on those narrow eyes and that angular mouth.
Who wants a sneak peek at the new, all-electric Macan three days before launch? pic.twitter.com/O18ABvnldP
— Porsche (@Porsche) January 23, 2024
The proportions almost look a little exaggerated when you look at the wheels and tires, that’s how mean this thing is. It has a wide, trapezoidal front air dam, flanked by a pair of side gouges that look to be doing double duty as both air intakes and light housings. They’re almost like the gills of some kind of fast shark. Moving up to the hood line, we have a pair of lights, almost like your rival’s eyes squinting with ferocity in the midst of a pitched anime face-off.
It’s a bold look, modern, muscular, and compelling all at once. It’s a mean machine, one that you’d have to sort of half strut, half run to every time you approached it in the parking lot. Just looking at it makes me feel like it’s out of some new action movie, like it’s raring to be driven over a dam or something with Daniel Craig blasting enemies from the passenger side window.
It’s a huge departure from what’s gone before in some ways. As it stands, the 2023 Macan still has some of that good old Porsche DNA visible in its front end. It’s not as obviously inspired by the 911 as the Cayenne was when it first dropped, but it’s still there. The rounded headlights, the downward swoop of the hood and all that. By and large, all very curvy and smooth.
The original Porsche Cayenne.In contrast, the front and back of this thing look positively chiseled by comparison, even if there’s still plenty of rounded edges in the design. We haven’t seen the sides yet, but expect the squarer aesthetic with muscular haunches to continue down the body.
Ultimately, I’m a huge fan. I’ve dug the Macan for a while, but this one has an energy about it that makes me want to go do a mission or something. Here’s looking forward to the launch, because I can’t wait to see how badass this thing looks in the metal.
Image credits: Porsche
Let’s see if any other manufacturers will adopt this whole angry car thing.
It’s going to be this vs a used Taycan. I have a feeling the latter’s values will absolutely crater.
Its already doing that, last october on C&B a 2020 Taycan Turbo with 18k miles sold for 100.000$, with an original msrp of 191.900$
Counterpoint:
Why is modern car so needlessly aggressive though? What happened to friendly approachable cars? I feel that the extreme aggression in car design subliminally contributes to aggressive behavior. Combine it with way more horsepower than anyone really needs and it’s road rage galore on the roadways.
Is everyone feeling so insecure they need an aggressive car to feel empowered? Even a lowly Corolla looks like an intimidating robot that wants to punish you. In the past high performance was paired with friendly faces and elegant flowing design. Nowadays it’s all angry Gundam all the time. Just compare a Lamborghini Miura from the 60s’ to the latest models from the Bull.
Rant over!
And traditional beauty? Cars should be sexy, not overly angry looking bugs.
They don’t have to be just sexy; they can also be confident, handsome, rugged or cute. I’m so over super aggro car design, and trucks getting bigger for no other reason that it’s more intimidating.
Sure, but I think those other styles have some presense in the market.
These days real beauty has been pretty much forgotten in cars. 911 is not aggressive, but not really a beaty. Astons are pretty, but not for regular folks. And i don’t think Ferrari has made actually pretty car since sixties. Roma is step in to that direction, but again not for regular people and still a bit aggressive more than lady in red.
And even Miatas are mad these days!
I guess Porsche’s teeth are finally straight and they can stop wearing retainers.
Now that even the Trax is handsome, mouth guard Porsches have been my main source of cringe on the road, so I cannot tell you how exciting this is.
I appreciate that Porsche is differentiating their electric and ICE models with the headlights. These are similar to the narrow headlights on the Taycan. Anyway the current Macan is a great looking car and the original one is aging really well. I think the 2015-2018ish ones still look like they could’ve rolled off a showroom floor today. Hell I almost bought a certified 2017 one for the same price as my eventual Kona N but the wife vetoed it because she thought it was too showy.
Which leads me to the ultimate question…is the Macan a valid Porsche? It’s universally been considered an excellent and stylish driver’s car from the get go, but there’s always been something about the fact that it’s on MQB and powered by VW and Audi engines that doesn’t quite sit right with me.
It’s A LOT of money for something that shares a platform with the Golf and Jetta….and you can’t pay me to drive something with an EA888 under the hood. The Audi turbo 6s are better, but they still don’t scream Porsche to me and it would be hard to choose one over a B58 or S58 powered Bimmer. As a maximum Parsh fan I am perpetually tempted by certified V6 Macans but I just can’t help but feel like if I’m going to Parsh it needs to be something with a flat 6. I know I’m being insufferable but I can’t help it.
Anyway, electrifying it takes a lot of that out of the equation in my humble opinion. I find this to be very intriguing and a little more unique that the Golf on stilts with an Audi engine formula. I’m sure it’s going to cost a ludicrous sum of money and barely depreciate because Parsh, but I’m glad it exists. If anyone can make EVs engaging it’s probably Porsche.
The Macan isn’t on MQB. It’s on MLB. It’s not a Golf, it’s an A4/Q5. The Q3 is on MQB.
Think of it as an Uber-GTI – it’s really just a tall, A-4 sized, Porsche hot hatch.
As a GTI owner myself the GTI to Macan pipeline is surprisingly common, at least from what I’ve seen on the forums
I used to have a GTI and nearly traded it in on a Macan so you are correct
I might be wrong, but I don’t think those are the head lights. Looks like they moved them to the fake vents like the pre-facelift KL Cherokee/small crossovers.
Haha you want to open the “Real Porsh” debate? Why not something less controversial like which type of oil is better / best 😉
What seems funny to me about the endless & no answer possible “Real Porsh” debate is*, imagine ol’ Ferdinand never stole the arch. for the beetle from that lovely Jewish fellow… the 356 wouldn’t have had its engine swinging the car around which instantly gave it a unique feel (delightfully light steering and pendulum effect oversteer) in the ‘sports car’ space. Porsche themselves famously tried to kill off their ass engined derivitive “heart” over (JHC) 45 years ago
*that And if you take the “not a real Porsh” elitists to the extreme… i.e. engine must be an aircooled flat 6 sitting in the ass end + Manuel Trans… then No Porsch has been a ‘Real Porsh’ in over 25 years
The curviness of Porsches makes them stand out against all of the aggressively styled crossovers of today. Hopefully this doesn’t actually end up that extreme.
If the “headlights” are just drls (which is what it looks like in the pic) I will be sad.
I have always loved the fat ass of the Macan, and this is no exception. That thing is thicc.
“Porsche was once exclusively a sports car company” ? no, they thought they were the best engineers in the world. they licensed/designed things like sun glasses and goggles and… and consulted with a lot of other auto companies. subaru? and so they whored themselves/the brand out and were still going broke. boxster helped some. so they finally made a good biz decision and made what was selling.
Helped Harley on engines, etc.
The good business decision was “Our customers are all buying BMW X5s. Let’s give them something to buy from us”.
This is so close to being accurate, but do remember that Porsche Design and Porsche AG are different companies. What you are mostly describing is Porsche Design. While AG was close to being broke in the early 90s due to a lack of innovation, poor management and familial infighting, the 996/986 (Boxster/911 siblings) helped them stay afloat until the Cayenne came along and really saved the company.
I thought that AG worked with Harley, Subaru and several other manufacturers on a consulting type basis that impacted the ability to stay afloat? I also thought some of the products with the P name were licensed through them, not P Design.
Yeah, Porsche AG is the company that helped give us the original MB500E and the Audi RS2 Avant back in the day so they could pay their bills.
1990s Porsche famously partnered with Toyota consulting on how to take costs out of the then in development 996 version of the 911