Porsche’s Next Gas Macan Is Shedding Its Audi Skin

                                            https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/                                        

Porsche’s next combustion-powered Macan has resurfaced, and this time you won’t need quite as much imagination to see past its Audi disguise. New spy shots from hot-weather testing in Spain show development moving along, with the latest mule finally gaining a few details that separate it from its Q5 donor.

Related: Porsche Ends Gas Macan Production In July With No ICE Successor For Years

We first encountered Porsche’s sneaky project in March when photographers then caught Q5-based mules wearing noticeably wider arches around Porsche’s facilities. But with the Audi grille still in place, most people might have assumed it was an RSQ5 prototype, not a Macan.

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Now Porsche’s experiment has taken another step forward. The Spanish mule still has plenty of Audi DNA on display in the form of the basic body structure and lights, but the nose features a different grille that ditches the Q5’s familiar mesh treatment. It’s hardly the grand unmasking, but it’s another indication that Porsche-specific hardware is gradually replacing the placeholder bits.

Underneath, however, the family connection isn’t going anywhere. The new combustion Macan will use the VW Group’s Premium Platform Combustion architecture shared with the latest Q5. Expect a similar array of 2.0-liter four-cylinder and 3.0-liter V6 engines, plus the Macan’s first ever plug-in hybrid powertrain that will deliver at least 62 miles (100 km) of electric range.

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Being a Porsche, though, the Macan will want to show its cousin who’s boss. So while Audi’s hottest Q5 is the 362 hp (367 PS) SQ5, we can expect the punchiest Macans to try much harder. The 2026 Macan GTS, which is still on sale in America despite production ending last month, as a reminder, already makes 434 hp (440 PS) from its bi-turbo V6.

Macan Coupe A Possibility

Porsche recently said it wanted to reduce the number of variants to help boost profitability, but Audi Q5 Sportback development mules have also appeared in Spain alongside the more upright SUV versions, raising the possibility Porsche might exploit that hardware to create a more rakish Macan derivative. That’s just speculation for now, but a coupe-like companion would hardly look out of place in today’s premium SUV market.

Porsche originally expected the electric Macan to replace the combustion one altogether. But slower EV adoption, especially in the massively important American market, triggered an urgent rethink. The outgoing gasoline Macan has already vanished from Europe because of cybersecurity regulations, and stocks will soon run dry in the US, much to the dismay of buyers who have chosen the ICE SUV over the EV by a big margin this year.

Once the inventory dries up dealers and fans will have a long wait until the new combustion Macan debuts in 2028, potentially as a MY29. But we should at least get to see some real prototypes soon as Porsche’s testing team shifts away from Audi-based mules.

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