Porsche built its reputation on the visceral appeal of combustion, yet it spent the past few years racing toward a future dominated by batteries. Now the company is publicly conceding that it misjudged how quickly its customers were willing to follow. By admitting “we were wrong” on the gas-powered Macan and pivoting back toward engines and hybrids, the German sports car maker is staging one of the most striking reversals in the industry’s electric transition.
The shift is not just about nostalgia for exhaust notes. It reflects hard lessons about profit, regulation, and the limits of forecasting demand, as Porsche tries to balance climate pressure with the “Performance that Thrills Porsche” loyalists still expect. I see this as a test case for how legacy brands recalibrate when the EV hype cycle collides with financial reality.
The Macan U-turn that shocked even Porsche
The clearest symbol of Porsche’s rethink is the compact Porsche Macan SUV, a model that quietly became the brand’s volume backbone. In an unusually candid moment, Jan executives acknowledged that phasing out the internal combustion engine version of the Porsche Macan SUV without a direct successor was a strategic error, effectively conceding that they “got it wrong with the Macan” after pushing customers toward a full-electric replacement too quickly, as detailed in one Macan analysis. Another Jan account notes that Porsche has now officially admitted it was wrong to get rid of the gas-powered Macan, underlining how the decision left a gap in the lineup at a time when demand for practical, combustion-powered crossovers remained strong, according to a separate Porsche report.
The reversal is even more striking because the gasoline Macan has already vanished from key markets. Jan reporting notes that the Macan with an internal combustion engine has disappeared from European showrooms after failing to meet updated GSR2 cybersecurity regulations, which forced Porsche to lean harder on its electric successor in the region, as explained in a European-focused piece. Internally, the company has already been trying to fix what one Jan report calls its misstep with the electric Macan, noting that The Macan Electric has reached dealers but that Porsche is now planning a new combustion SUV on a Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) architecture to effectively replace the original Macan in 2028, as outlined in a detailed Macan breakdown.
Inside the boardroom: how Porsche misread the EV curve
Porsche’s mea culpa on the Macan is part of a broader reset after what one analysis calls the Porsche EV Reset, Key Points, which describes how Porsche issued a financial warning as its electric models proved less profitable than forecast and forced the brand to reposition itself with a hybrid-heavy strategy, according to a Porsche EV Reset summary. The company had previously aimed to make 80 percent of its sales fully electric by 2030, but the combination of slower-than-expected uptake and the steep depreciation of EVs has hit both sales and margins, with one Oct report bluntly stating that Porsche’s hard bet on electrification failed and that But the expected profitability never materialised, as described in an EV profit analysis.
Internally, the rethink has been painful. Apr coverage, Published April and By Greg Kable, notes that Porsche announced changes to its electrification plans after a slower-than-expected market response, including a write-down of up to €760 million ($810 million) on EV-related investments, as detailed in a strategy update. Parent company Volkswagen has also taken a hit, with one Sep analysis noting that Volkswagen absorbed restructuring losses of €5.1 billion while cutting its profit forecast from 4-5% down to a lower range and acknowledging that it no longer expects a rapid, linear shift to full electrification, instead planning to keep gas-powered models into the 2030s, as described in a Volkswagen briefing. Against that backdrop, Porsche’s admission that it misjudged the Macan looks less like an isolated misstep and more like a symptom of a wider industry recalibration.
From all-in EV to hybrid-heavy: the new product map
As the financial reality of its EV push set in, Porsche began to redraw its product roadmap around hybrids and combustion flagships. One Sep report explains that Porsche will continue to make gas-powered Boxsters and Caymans alongside electric versions, while also developing a new three-row SUV codenamed K1 that is described as an off-road capable, do-anything SUV with a hefty six-figure price tag designed to expand margins and strengthen its market position, according to a future SUV plan. At the same time, Oct reporting notes that Porsche still plans to end production of the gasoline-powered Macan in 2026, with the company’s CFO confirming that output of the Macan internal combustion model will cease as part of a phased transition, even as the brand now works on a new combustion SUV to fill the gap, as set out in an Macan ICE update.
The pivot is not limited to SUVs. Porsche is also delaying its most ambitious EV platform, with a Sep report noting that the company has announced it will push development of its high-tech SSP Sport architecture “well into the next decade,” even though the SSP Sport platform was meant to underpin a new generation of electric sports cars and crossovers and had support from other Volkswagen Group brands, as described in an SSP Sport briefing. In parallel, another Sep analysis notes that Porsche has become the latest carmaker to roll back on a previously announced strategy to have eight in 10 of its new cars fully electric, instead shifting toward a mix of combustion, plug-in hybrids, and EVs after what is described as a hard and heavy electrification push, as outlined in a strategy reversal. The result is a product map that leans on hybrids and high-margin gas models to stabilise earnings while the company waits for EV economics and infrastructure to catch up.
The roar returns: hybrids and halo cars keep combustion alive
Nowhere is Porsche’s new direction more audible than in its latest performance flagships. A Sep preview invites enthusiasts to Meet the 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S Hybrid, describing a 911 with 701 horsepower, twin electric turbochargers, and a titanium sports exhaust that still “sings,” underscoring how the brand is using electrification to enhance, rather than replace, the emotional appeal of combustion, as showcased in a Turbo S Hybrid feature. Another May driving impression of the Porsche 911 GTS notes that it is hybridised, but apart from the instant responses in the throttle, the driver never really feels the hybrid system interfering with the character of the car, reinforcing the idea that Porsche is trying to hide the tech and foreground the traditional sports car feel, as described in a GTS review.
This approach plays directly into the brand’s long-standing promise of Performance that Thrills Porsche drivers, a phrase one industry analysis uses to describe how the company’s cars are not just about luxury and style but about delivering an experience that excites enthusiasts, as highlighted in a performance overview. By keeping the roar of combustion alive in halo models like the 911 Turbo S Hybrid and the 911 GTS, while also planning new combustion SUVs and continuing gas-powered Boxsters and Caymans, Porsche is betting that a carefully tuned mix of sound, speed, and electrified efficiency can satisfy regulators and purists at the same time.
What Porsche’s climbdown means for the wider car market
The Macan saga has also become a case study in corporate humility. Jan coverage on social media highlights how Former Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, now leading the Volkswagen Group, has admitted that axing the gas-powered Macan was a mistake, with one post quoting criticism that “Blind Freddy could see this happening” and questioning what Porsche was thinking when it dropped the model, as recounted in a Blume commentary. Another Jan report describes how The West Germany born executive opened up about how the first-generation Macan, a crossover positioned below the Cayenne, should not have been discontinued when it was, effectively acknowledging that the company misread both customer loyalty and the pace of regulatory change, as detailed in a leadership interview.
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