Porsche confirms plans for flagship electric SUV
Due after 2025, Porsche’s seventh model is set to ride on the Sport variant of VW’s new SSP electric platform – alongside EV versions of the next Cayenne and Panamera.
Porsche has confirmed plans for a new flagship SUV based on a variant of the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) – a dedicated electric car architecture set to underpin cars from a number of different brands across the Volkswagen Group.
Plans for the new SUV, which Porsche insiders say is set to be produced at the car maker’s Leipzig factory, were revealed in a long-term platform strategy update provided by Porsche CEO Oliver Blume on Tuesday.
It also reveals the upcoming third-generation Panamera and second-generation Taycan sedans will also be based on the same SSP platform – confirming a switch to electric power. The brand has aims for 80 per cent of its sales to be electric by 2030.
Meanwhile, the large Cayenne SUV will join the smaller Macan in switching to Porsche and Audi’s shared, battery-only Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture, once it launches closer to 2025.
“We plan to add a new luxury, all-electric SUV model to our portfolio, which will roll off the production line in Leipzig. This will further expand our position in the luxury segment. We are targeting the higher margin segments in particular and aim to tap into new sales opportunities this way,” said Blume.
Further details of the new SUV, which is set to be priced above the Macan and Cayenne when it launches during the latter half of the decade, remain under wraps.
However, suggestions are it could be the unidentified model shown as a rendering in a presentation to a group of North American Porsche dealers late last year, as reported by Automotive News at the time.
Dealers then described the vehicle as being “larger, wider and larger than the Cayenne”. They also said it featured a “flat rear design, not anything like the Macan and Cayenne”.
The new SUV will introduce a seventh model line to the Porsche line-up, which currently includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman (set to go electric around 2025), 911 (which will keep petrol power past 2030), Macan, Cayenne, Panamera and Taycan.
As well as revealing the plans for the new SUV model, Blume disclosed Porsche will lead the development of a new variant of the VW Group’s Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) electric architecture, known internally as SSP Sport.
The new Porsche-developed electric car platform draws on the “backbone” of the standard SSP structure, which is set to debut in 2025 with the Volkswagen ‘Trinity’, a large electric liftback that will serve as the brand’s flagship.
MORE: Volkswagen Group to introduce a single electric platform to underpin future models
Among the SSP Sport’s key developments will be high-performance electric motors, dedicated battery cells and battery components – a strategy similar to that planned by Mercedes-Benz and its AMG performance car division.
It is also expected to support an 800-volt electric architecture – much like the current Porsche Taycan – and 350kW fast charging.
Drive has been told the same platform is set to be used by upcoming electric models planned by Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini.
While Porsche’s new flagship SUV is set to ride on the SSP Sport architecture, Blume’s presentation confirmed upcoming electric versions of the Macan and Cayenne will sit on the PPE architecture, which is set to debut with the upcoming Audi Q6 E-Tron medium SUV next year.
Porsche also revealed the next Panamera is set to go electric – contrary to expectations it would remain a plug-in hybrid – in a move that will see it twinned with the second-generation Taycan.
Whether both models will be sold alongside each other or amalgamated into one model line has not yet been officially confirmed, though insiders at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen headquarters in Germany have told Drive that current plans call for both nameplates to continue.
Today’s first-generation Taycan is based on the bespoke ‘J1’ electric platform developed by Porsche in partnership with Audi.
News of the Panamera’s switch to electric power suggests Porsche’s Leipzig, Germany plant will eventually produce up to four electric models based on two platforms: Macan and Cayenne on the PPE, and the Panamera and new SUV on the SSP Sport.
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