By selectively cross-breeding an SUV and a sports car,
Porsche has managed to create a thoroughbred. Yes, this needs explaining…
It’s 9 o’clock on a chilly February evening. We’re at the
Porsche Technical Centre at Leipzig, (formerly East) Germany. In the distance,
we can see cars doing the rounds on the in-house test track, which for some
reason is also a certified FIA racetrack! Knowing the European love for life
after office hours, it is a bit unusual to see work underway in full swing at
that hour. “Well, there is a lot of demand and we need to deliver these cars
soon”, says a Porsche employee.
Lot of demand is probably an understatement. To give you an
idea, Porsche has earmarked 50,000 cars for the first year of production at
this plant. News is that possibly all of them are already sold out, or at least
booked. Without even being driven! Thankfully, Porsche saw this demand coming.
In fact, it expects the Macan segment – same as the Range Rover Evoque – to
grow rapidly over the next year, globally. Which is why it built the third line
at its Leipzig plant in record time.
The Macan launch
range includes petrol and diesel versions of the Macan S, as well as a 400bhp
Macan Turbo
This is a laid-back city that has tried to pick up the
pieces after decades of communist rule, and merged into West Germany during
unification. Surely, there is a lot of history here, but in the automotive
world, Leipzig’s claim to fame is that it is the only place outside Stuttgart
where Porsches are made. While manufacturers the world over are migrating to
other countries to make production cheaper, Porsche insists that all its cars
bear the ‘Made in Germany’ tag. Why? “Because customers want it”. Interesting.
Also interesting is the fact that customers want another Porsche SUV, albeit a
bit smaller (and cheaper) than the Cayenne, one that will not put the family
name to shame when it comes to agility and handling.
Well, the Macan doesn’t disappoint.
The Macan is
impressively refined throughout, the cabin doesn't suffer from excess road
noise at speed
While many Indians may find the name a bit odd (in Hindi, it
means ‘house’), Macan is actually Indonesian for ‘tiger’. Yes, that sounds more
relevant. It is no surprise that Porsche borrows bits from the VW parts bin as
is now the norm. In this case, it is the floor plan that has come from an Audi
Q5. Of course, it is a totally different vehicle from there on. The wheelbase
is the same, and while it doesn’t look like it, the Macan is longer and wider
than the Audi. The only bit that the Q5 can boast more about than the Macan is
the 40 litres of extra boot space. But the Macan is a totally different animal.
Even in its positioning, because its range starts where the Q5’s ends.
Most buttons are
clustered around the centre console
Every time Porsche has built something other than a sports
car, it has met with resistance. The birth of the Cayenne, in 2002, was met
with the enthusiasm of an orthodox family looking at an illegitimate child. The
Macan’s has been fairly uneventful. Possibly because everyone is now used to
the idea of this other facet of Porsche that isn’t quenti-essential sports car.
What has also helped is that both the Cayenne and the Panamera limo have oodles
of ability when it comes to physics-defying handling. The Macan, ignoring its
SUV body style, wants to take dynamics to an altogether new level.
