- After 12 years, the original Porsche Macan is no more.
- The gasoline-fueled Macan outsold the EV version in the first half of 2026.
- A new combustion-engine crossover is coming later this decade, but under a different name.
Pour one out for the first-generation Macan as Porsche is weeks away from pulling the plug on its venerable compact crossover. In production since early 2014, the “sports car among SUVs” will be retired at the end of the month, when the last example rolls off the assembly line in Leipzig. The original Macan has already been dead in Europe for a couple of years after failing to comply with the cybersecurity requirements of the General Safety Regulation (GSR2). Now, it’s about to die everywhere.
At the beginning of the year, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume and former Porsche boss admitted Zuffenhausen made the wrong move when it decided to kill off the cash cow. At the time, the company assumed buyers would naturally switch to the second-generation, electric-only model. However, that didn’t happen at the rate Porsche expected:
‘We were wrong about the Macan. Based on the data available at the time and our assessment of our markets, we would make the same decision again. Today, the situation is different. We have responded and are adding combustion engines and hybrids.’
While the EV outsold the ICE model last year, 45,367 to 38,961, the numbers look different in the first half of 2026. Of the 35,315 Macans delivered through June, 19,695 had a gas engine while only 15,620 were purely electric. Had the first-generation model remained on sale in Europe, it’s reasonable to assume the gap would have been even bigger.
Looking back, perhaps the conventionally powered model might not have lost the battle in 2025 had it still been available in the EU, though it’s impossible to know for sure. Ahead of the ICE Macan’s imminent retirement, Porsche has been stockpiling vehicles to meet strong demand in the United States. It projects that inventory will last into 2027.
Since a direct replacement wasn’t originally on the agenda, Porsche won’t have an immediate successor for the ICE-powered Macan. While a new gas and hybrid compact crossover is in the works, it’s not coming anytime soon. Last year, then-CEO Oliver Blume said it would go on sale in three years, so it should arrive in 2028. When it does, it’ll carry a different name since the company is reserving the Macan badge for the EV.
Like the soon-to-be-retired Macan, the newcomer will be mechanically related to the Audi Q5. A few months ago, CEO Michael Leiters said that despite its Audi ties, it’ll be far more than a simple case of rebadging and rebodying the Q5:
‘We have to make sure that this is a real Porsche. And this needs some content, some product substance, some technology, which is new on this car – will be new on these cars and therefore, a certain time, is necessary to come to industrialization and to come to the launch of this product.’
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Motor1’s Take: The Macan is the second combustion-engine model Porsche has retired in recent times. The company discontinued the 718 Boxster/Cayman last October, and as with the crossover, a replacement isn’t immediately available. The gas-powered two-door sports cars are expected to return later this decade. Meanwhile, there are two notable gaps in the company’s lineup.
From a volume perspective, we can all agree the ICE Macan’s replacement is far more important than the 718s, and it can’t come soon enough. Porsche says it will share fresh details about its future lineup this fall, when it outlines its Strategy 2035 at its Capital Markets Day.
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