Porsche Macan and Audi Q6 EVs: crucial sports SUVs land in 2023

One advantage of a dedicated EV architecture is a more spacious interior, thanks largely to the lack of a transmission tunnel, and improved handling due to a lower centre of gravity and improved weight distribution. 

Following an extensive period of virtual testing, real-world Macan EV prototypes are now testing on the road, laying bare the differences that will set the electric SUV apart from its combustion- engined predecessor.

Porsche fully intends for the Macan EV to be the sportiest model in the segment, and much of the testing programme has centred around its capacity to offer “repeatable best-in- class performance figures”, although no details have yet been given of the model’s ultimate capability.

The Macan EV will play a key role in taking the firm to a recently announced target of 80% EV sales in 2030, along with several variants of the Taycan and a new electric successor to the Porsche 718 Boxster and Porsche 718 Cayman sports-car duo.

Porsche has yet to confirm plans for an electric take on its largest car, the Cayenne SUV, and has repeatedly stated that the 58-year-old 911 sports car will be its final model to ditch combustion, likely after 2030.

Audi Q6 E-tron

Audi’s first car to use the new architecture is tipped to quickly become one of its best-selling EVs, given its similar size and positioning to the conventionally fuelled Audi Q5, which dominated the German firm’s sales chart last year.

The brand has so far been tight- lipped about the precise technical specifications and performance details of the Q6 E-tron, but it has given strong clues of what to expect with a pair of PPE-based concepts that closely preview saloon and estate versions of its upcoming Audi A6 E-tron sibling, due in 2024. Each of those concepts is obviously distinguished from Audi’s first generation of EVs – the E-tron, E-tron GT and Q4 E-tron – by a radical new styling treatment that puts even greater emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency and dynamism.

Recent spy shots showing a Q6 E-tron prototype with its front end unwrapped confirm that it will largely follow suit, albeit with a raised ride height and a more upright silhouette.