Porsche confirms new electric SUV project, could be flagship above Cayenne

The next-generation Porsche Macan is going electric, but on Monday the automaker announced another, more high-end, electric SUV project.

\”We plan to add a new luxury, all-electric SUV model to our attractive portfolio,\” Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said in a press release for the automaker\’s Capital Markets Day. To be built in Leipzig, Germany, the new EV is part of Porsche\’s strategy to tap higher-margin market segments, Blume said.

The emphasis on luxury and high profit margins points to something positioned fairly high in Porsche\’s model hierarchy, perhaps above the Porsche Cayenne SUV. The new model could also be an electric equivalent to the Cayenne, the way the Taycan is a grand-touring equivalent to Panamera with flavor from the 911, Porsche\’s sports car talisman.

2022 Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT

The Taycan has become a technology flagship for the Porsche lineup, and an electric SUV equivalent might accelerate the brand further in that direction. Porsche does plan to start building its own battery cells—initially for racing. Executives believe this is crucial to maintaining a technology advantage in the coming EV age similar to the one Porsche cultivated with internal-combustion engines.

Porsche didn\’t discuss a timeline for this electric flagship SUV, but noted that the electric Macan will arrive first. It\’s also planning an electric variant of its 718-family sports cars (the Boxster convertible and Cayman coupe), due around the middle of the decade.

Earlier this year it confirmed a charging network of its own, alongside the 718 project. The first station is scheduled to open in the beginning of 2023, with a buildout thereafter.