With New Electric SUV, Porsche Remains Ahead of Competition

During Porsche’s annual press conference on Monday, the luxury marque spent over 30 minutes discussing its success in 2022 (more sales revenue! More cars sold!) and its wide-ranging plans for the future (electric Macan and Cayenne! E-fuels!). But for potential buyers, the most exciting segment passed quickly in under a minute: a brand new EV is coming.

Porsche confirmed that it’s working on a new all-electric SUV that will be more luxurious than the Cayenne, as Porsche and Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume explained. The brand is planning to begin sales of an electric version of the Macan SUV (its second best-selling vehicle) in 2024 and an electric Cayenne (its sales leader) in 2026, both of which are firmly in the luxury segment; but this new model, codenamed K1, could rival ultra-luxury SUVs like the Aston Martin DBX, Bentley Bentayga, Ferrari Purosangue and Lamborghini Urus when it arrives around 2027, according to Carscoops.

The thing about all those eye-poppingly expensive, high-performance SUVs is that they’re gas-powered. By previewing a higher-end battery-powered model, we see the German luxury brand is still one step ahead of the competition, if not several. After all, Porsche essentially predicted the rise of the luxury SUV when it announced plans for such a model in 1998 and introduced it in the form of the Cayenne in 2002. Ultra-luxury brands were slow to follow suit, with Ferrari now debuting a sport-utility offering a full 20 years later.

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Porsche has normally slotted a tier below the aforementioned brands, but with this upcoming SUV, the company is aiming to deliver a larger vehicle with the performance of its electric Taycan and the status of its famed 911 sports car. As Carscoops notes, Porsche billed the Macan as a “lifestyle” product and the Cayenne as “functionality” focused, but labeled the unnamed electric SUV under the “prestige” banner.

Who will compete with Porsche at this intersection of sporty, luxury and electric SUVs? EV leader Tesla is out due to its consistently subpar build quality and reliability issues. Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin have yet to introduce any fully electric vehicles, and even with Ferrari set to unveil one in 2025, a battery-powered SUV is likely far down the line. As for Bentley, there have been rumors its first EV would be an SUV, but recent reports suggest it will be a coupe when it arrives in 2026.

Come 2027, there is certainly the chance Porsche will release something more in line with its current competitors BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, all of which have luxury electric SUVs available already. But from everything we’ve seen the company achieve in the 21st century, we expect they’ll continue defying the status quo.