Unlike the V4 in its new 919 World Endurance Championship racer, the engine in the just-announced Macan is made by the Volkswagen Group, not Porsche.
Called simply Macan, and available immediately to special order in many markets, including Britain (priced at just over £40,000), its world premiere was at the Beijing motor show on 20 April.
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This new base variant joins the Macan S, Macan Turbo and Macan S Diesel, each of which is powered by a six-cylinder engine. This is the first Porsche to have a four-cylinder engine since production of the 968 ended in 1995.
The new car has a 174kW (237hp) version of Volkswagen’s 1,984cc EA888 under its bonnet. Torque is quoted as 350Nm. In the Audi Q5, with which the Macan shares roughly 30 percent of its components, a less powerful version is called 2.0 TFSI. A seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, which Porsche brands as a PDK, is to be standard.
Aside from the ‘Macan’ badge on its tailgate, the new car has exhausts which differ from those in the three existing, pricier variants. These are single, rectangular outlets on either side of the diffuser, whereas each pair of the Macan S and Macan S Diesel’s pipes is round. The Turbo has two sets of rectangular exhausts.
The Macan, S, Turbo and S Diesel are expected to eventually be joined by a diesel (four-cylinder rebranded Volkswagen TDI), an S Hybrid, a GTS and a Turbo S.
