The Porsche Macan

Based on the Audi Q5 platform, the Cayenne’s baby sister will be available in three variants. The ‘S’, a ‘Diesel’ as well as the range topping ‘Turbo’. All three variants will feature turbocharged V6 engines. The 3.0-litre in the ‘S’ (similar to the engine in the Panamera S’ will produce 340bhp while the ‘Diesel’ variant will pump out 285bhp at full trot. The ‘Turbo’ variant will have its own 3.6-litre V6 that will pump out a dizzying 400bhp.

Despite sharing the same platform as the Q5, the Macan will be built by Porsche at their Leipzig factory separate from the Audi.

The Macan design borrows heavily from its larger Cayenne sibling and appears like a scaled down version of the larger SUV from the front. Though the Macan gets a more shapely and lower nose. Credits to the redesigned air intake system that fuses with the bonnet.

Positioned as the very unnerving thorn in the sides of the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and the Range Rover Evoque, Porsche has promised that the Macan will be much more dynamically capable than any of its rivals.

We expect to see all three variants available by Q1 2014.

Credits: Story and Photos by Benjamin G. Kline direct from Los Angeles, USA