Porsche’s best-seller, the Macan SUV, is going electric, the company announced Tuesday.
Now with three electric vehicles slated for its lineup in coming years, Porsche is again signaling a challenge to Tesla, which has the high-end electric car market to itself.
Porsche is investing more than $6.9 billion through 2022 on electric mobility. By 2025, half of its vehicles will be all-electric or hybrid, the company said.
The Macan’s electric debut will be “at the start of the next decade,” Porsche said.
The Macan electric will use the same 800 volt system as the Taycan sports car, which will go into production this year. The same system is being used in the Cross Turismo, a sporty wagon, scheduled to start coming off the line in 2020. All Porsche electric cars will be made in Germany.
Porsche is best known for its sports cars, but the Macan is its most popular vehicle, with consumers buying more than 90,000 last year.
Porsche didn’t provide the driving distance for a fully charged Macan. However, executives have previously said the Taycan will have a range of 250 miles, after charging in fewer than 20 minutes. That car is also expected to have a total system output of more than 600 horsepower and accelerate to 62 mph in fewer than 3.5 seconds.
Porsche did not give prices for the electric Macan, but it’s likely to cost less than the Taycan, which will run $130,000.
Porsche is expected to be a serious challenger to Tesla once its electric cars hit the road, given the company’s strong reputation with auto enthusiasts. Tesla’s U.S.-made car production delays haven’t helped its reputation, either.
