Porsche Macan EV delayed to at least 2024
Back in July, then-Porsche CEO Oliver Blume told German newspaper Automobilwoche that his brand would need to delay the battery-electric Macan because of delays in the EV’s software. At that point, electric Macan prototypes had already been testing on European roads since May 2021, and the plan wasn’t to put them in showrooms until sometime in 2023. Yet the code writers at Volkswagen Group’s software division, Cariad, were so far behind that Blume knew this summer it would take at least another year on top of that, pushing the battery-powered Macan back to 2024. A week later, VW Group boss Herbert Diess was shown the door in part because of software delays, with Blume installed as boss of the parent company and promising to speed up the push to electric.
As highlighted by Autocar, Porsche’s prospectus for its initial public offering draws a more detailed picture of what’s at stake. Cariad is working on the E3 1.2 software platform slated for the Macan and a few Audi EVs that will sit on the Premium Performance Electric (PPE) vehicle architecture Porsche and Audi are developing. The prospectus makes clear the holdups might also delay “BEV models of the 718 [Porsche Boxster and Cayman] and the Porsche Cayenne.” In March of this year, Porsche said its 718 coupe and convertible twins would launch in 2025. Furthermore, because Cariad is also working on an E3 2.0 software version planned for the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) vehicle architecture that will succeed the PPE vehicle architecture, manpower devoted to the 2.0 build could further slow the release of E3 1.2.
The E3 2.0 build is important here because Porsche is not obligated to use it. The luxury maker wants to ensure entrepreneurial freedom moving into the electric age, safeguarding its brand value and profit margins by not getting pulled too closely to other Volkswagen Group brands. It intended to work with Audi developing E3 1.2 for its own purposes going forward. In the coming year Porsche will make a decision soon about whether to use E3 2.0, but either way that decision goes, it needs E3 1.2 ready for consumption. The sports car brand is also already planning its own Sport version of the SSP vehicle architecture for the electric Panamera, electric Cayenne, and another electric SUV above the Cayenne, on top of drawing up another exclusive EV architecture devoted to sports cars.
According to some, Porsche’s eye on its needs is one of the causes of the software problems. Forbes wrote, “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,” the brand bosses “demanding more and more unique pieces for their own brand identities, reducing the economies of scale planned for PPE” — and rubbishing completion targets.
Blume is now running the whole VW show, one of the publicized reasons being a leadership style more cooperative than that of his predecessor Diess. If Blume can hold on to the job, it seems more likely he’ll get his way on software and platforms than Duesmann. The Audi boss will need to sort out the politics to manage his own full plate, which includes the Audi Q6 E-tron, Q5 E-Tron, Q7 E-Tron, and second-gen E-Tron GT that will use the PPE and E3 1.2 platforms, and the marquee Project Artemis meant to showcase a new, better, faster way of developing EVs.
Whenever the Macan EV does arrive, it will bring an 800-volt architecture and “improvements in range” compared to similar electric crossovers. It will be sold alongside the gas-powered Macan for at least 18 months.
