Yahoo Autos 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.
