Porsche has had an interesting few weeks, with its IPO off to a great start and now that its stock is plunging along with the rest of the market, several auto publications revealing unpleasant news about the Macan EV.
The Porsche Macan EV will be the company's second all-electric car, after the successful Taycan. The Macan is still Porsche's best-selling model but only due to production delays with the Taycan. The company took a long time to develop an electric version of the smaller SUV knowing all too well that it had all the advantages of being an instant success with customers.
Just before the IPO, Porsche shared an extensive investment memorandum with potential customers. Autocar managed to get hold of the 820-page document and after spending some time with it, came up with a production plan for the Macan. Not good news - Porsche confirmed to its investors that the Macan is on hold until at least early 2024.
The blame goes straight to the feet of the Cariad team, the software development division of the VW Group. The team is responsible for the upcoming E3 1.2 platform that is supposed to be used by all future VW group electric vehicles - including the Porsche Macan. There have been further delays from third-party contractors as well and Porsche admits it has no control whatsoever.
The manufacturing start of 2024 is still optimistic according to the memorandum and may also be delayed further but at this time the company has no further information. Audi's Porsche Macan twin, the Q6 e-tron will be affected by this delay as well.
Now that we're getting a better idea of how bad the Cariad situation really is, it cost Herbert Diess his job with VW and there's no sign of the problems going away. VW has sought help from Horizon Robotics through a new joint venture with Chinese self-driving software and hardware specialists.
It took a while before this collaboration came to fruition, because now the hope of owning an electric Tiger next year has turned into an impossible dream. It just goes to show how important software is for new cars and how old automakers ignored it and are now paying the price.