Various automotive publications have received ‘spy-shots’ of the Cayenne sibling that we now know as the ‘Macan’ from CarPix, an automotive content distribution website. Head to Autoblog for the images.
Porsche has named its baby Cayenne the Macan, the Indonesian word for tiger hinting at suppleness, power, fascination and dynamics, which are all characteristics of the car says Porsche. The Macan will be smaller than the Cayenne and will be based on the Audi Q5 chassis with changes to make it more Porsche.
The spy shots here shouldn’t be taken at face value as Porsche has childishly stickered the Cayenne head lamps and tail lamps over the Macan actual head lamp and tail lamps! The roof line is clearly obvious as is the much wider grille relative to the Cayenne.
The Macan will play a very important role in Porsche’s Strategy 2018, the intention of which is to expand Porsche’s model line up. The site in Leipzig ,Saxony is being expanded into a fully-fledged production plant including body assembly line and paint shop. The 500 million Euro investment is one of the biggest building projects in Porsche’s corporate history. Porsche also says this will create 1000 new jobs.
The SUV will start coming off the production lines in Leipzig in 2013.
A three door version, and a hybrid shouldn’t be too far down the line.
If you are still scratching your heads, well allow us to point out that this is the compact SUV that has been referred to as the Cajun until the company put out an official statement christening the SUV ‘Macan’.