Porsche announces its EV plans, including a new electric flagship SUV

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Porsche has revealed its latest plans for electrification, including a plug-in hybrid 911; electric versions of the Boxster, Cayman and Macan; and a three-row electric sport-utility that will top the Cayenne in size and price.

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The plans were revealed during the company’s annual report, where it also announced that despite continuing supply-chain issues, Porsche AG had record deliveries and net cash flow in 2022, with a 13.6 per cent revenue increase over 2021.

An all-electric Macan is expected to start arriving in showrooms in 2024, while the battery-powered 718 – the Boxster and Cayman – is planned “for the middle of the decade,” the automaker said, adding that “in the medium term it will only be available as an all-electric model.”

The Cayenne will arrive as an all-electric vehicle after the 718 debuts. It will be the fourth generation of the SUV, and “will underline Porsche’s goal of delivering more than 80 per cent of its new vehicles as all-electric models in 2030,” Porsche said.

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In the meantime, the Cayenne will undergo “one of the most comprehensive upgrades in the history of Porsche” during 2023, Blume said. This includes a new chassis, and three upgraded plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variants with more range than the current Cayenne E-Hybrid, which has a range of 27 km on a stored charge.

The company remained tight-lipped about the new three-row model that will slot above the Cayenne – including when it might be coming down the pipeline – but confirmed it will be built on a new and sporty variant of its SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) base. SSP is a dedicated electric-vehicle platform, being developed by Porsche, that will also be used by other brands within the Volkswagen Group. According to Oliver Blume, chairman of Porsche’s executive board, the new SUV will be “sporty luxury” and offer “strong performance and automated driving functions with the typical Porsche flyline, along with a completely new experience inside the vehicle.” It appears the vehicle will be primarily marketed to the U.S. and China, where Blume said the company is seeing “growing profit pools in this segment.”

The automaker also confirmed that it is working on a hybrid variant of the 911, but didn’t offer up a timeline for it. That said, it doesn’t look like there are any plans to make the iconic model into a battery-only version, and Porsche representatives clarified in a press conference that it would not arrive as a PHEV.