The first and only Porsche Macan generation has been around since 2014. But it has and the automaker is preparing another mild update following an earlier one in 2018 for the 2019MY. Likely to be unveiled this year, the update seen here looks to be pretty mild. Despite being around since Obama was president, the Macan still looks pretty modern today. It stands to reason, then, that Porsche is opting for a light touch here.
As far as the exterior is concerned, the
changes appear to largely be limited to the bumpers. Porsche has changed the
shape of the rear bumper a bit and is moving the rear markers up slightly and
closer to the license plate. Around front, the intakes appear to be growing a
bit and the lower grille is gaining a new row of slots. The lower section of
the doors also looks like it’s being simplified and smoothed out. All pretty
mild stuff.
The big change, as far as owners are
concerned, looks like it will come inside. As we’ve seen before, the
infotainment system now looks more like the Cayenne’s and Porsche appears to be
trading a wealth of buttons for more touch-sensitive surfaces.
What Porsche has planned for the
drivetrain is not yet known, but we would anticipate the changes to the
combustion engines to be pretty mild. Porsche’s focus for the near future is
likely to be on the electric version of the crossover based on the PPE
platform. That will be sold alongside the combustion Macan.
The timeline is interesting here. Porsche
is expected to put the electric Macan into porduction in 2022. This tester
would suggest that it wants to keep this generation of Macan around for another
couple of years. Although the electric and combustion Macan are completely
unrelated when it comes to platforms, it will be interesting to see how similar
they look. Will Porsche allow the EV to be a step ahead of the combustion
crossover in terms of design? Unfortunately, the spy photos we think we’ve seen
of the electric Macan have all sported ample camouflage, offering us little
insight into its design direction.
