It’s been two years since Porsche announced an electric Cayenne. In the meantime, the company’s lineup has expanded to include a Macan EV. We’ve now learned that its bigger brother will arrive near the end of 2025. During a Q&A session today, CEO Oliver Blume confirmed the electric luxobarge will premiere late this year during an event on the West Coast.
The fourth-generation model will be entirely electric, but the current Cayenne will soldier on with combustion engines. The newcomer will roll off the assembly lines at the same factory in Bratislava, Slovakia, where the ICE model is manufactured. If you’re worried the conventionally powered Cayenne will be retired to leave room for the EV, that won’t happen. The two will peacefully coexist for many years.
Porsche is not implementing the same strategy it’s using for the Macan. While the smaller crossover dies next year, the gas-fueled Cayenne will live to see the 2030s, complete with V-8 engines. There might even be a cheaper alternative to the Cayenne with combustion engines. Earlier today, Porsche revealed it’s considering an all-new gas SUV, presumably a replacement for the first-gen Macan.
But what about the 718? Zuffenhausen had planned to launch the electric Boxster/Cayman before the Cayenne EV. Porsche is now prioritizing the large SUV, which means that the sports car duo will have to wait: “Following on from the all-electric Cayenne, Porsche will introduce the all-electric sports cars in the 718 segment.”
We asked Porsche whether the 718 EV is being delayed, and spokesperson Stefan Mayr-Uhlmann told us the model has not been pushed back. It’s still on track for a release in the “mid of the decade.” He confirmed that the order for the new model rollout has changed–the Cayenne EV will hit the market before the Boxster/Cayman replacement.
Meanwhile, the gas 718 has already been retired from Europe due to stricter cybersecurity regulations that came into effect last year in the EU. The sports car sibling will go out of production by the middle of 2025. It can only mean Porsche will be without a sub-911 sports car for a while, until the electric 718 arrives.
Elsewhere in the lineup, an even bigger electric SUV is still happening. To be manufactured in Leipzig, the three-row flagship initially announced in mid-2022 is coming with electric power in the “medium-term.” But we wouldn’t completely rule out gas versions, given a statement from last November from Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke:
“We are currently looking at the possibility of the originally planned all-electric vehicles having a hybrid drive or a combustion engine.”
Overall, Porsche will offer a rich mix of powertrains for many years ahead. Combustion engines, plug-in hybrids, and EVs “will be available in parallel well into the 2030s.”
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Source: Porsche
