Porsche’s Evoque rival to be called Macan

Porsche has silenced speculation surrounding the name of its baby SUV rival to the Range Rover Evoque, officially unveiling the new car’s name as Macan.

Macan is an Indonesian word for tiger and, explains Porsche, “combines suppleness, power, fascination and dynamics”, factors claimed to be core characteristics of the new car.

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The Macan will be the fifth Porsche model line and is scheduled to begin production in 2013 following the Stuttgart manufacturer’s €500 million – around £415 million – investment in the Leipzig production facility.

It was initially thought that Audi Q5-based off-roader was to be called the Cajun. However, Porsche has finally put paid to rumours over the car’s nomenclature.

With the German sportscar maker’s links to the VW group we’d expect the new car to borrow heavily from the VW/Audi stable as the firm’s current large 4×4 the Cayenne does.

As such, expect direct injection V6 petrol and turbodiesel engines with hybrid technology to follow as well. And the possibility of four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engines, or even the first ever four-cylinder diesel unit in a car wearing the Porsche badge? Don’t rule it out…

The design sketch of the new Macan reveals a typical, Cayenne-style front and rear end with a more svelte coupé-like side profile, but whether the sportscar-cum-SUV proportions make it to production remains to be seen.

Porsche fans who lamented the introduction of the firm’s first ever off-roader won’t be filled with a warm glow following the latest announcement – but if it can generate sales to keep vehicles such as the mighty GT2 and GT3, including the hard core RS versions in production, it’ll be a success.

We expect it to sell exactly like a circa £35,000 Range Rover Evoque rivalling Porsche would anyway…

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