Porsche Macan

Porsche is repositioning the Macan in India, with this facelift, which should make it more desirable.

- Rohit Paradkar

All of 2018, the only Porsche we kept talking about was the Cayenne - not only because it was the one and only major launch from the carmaker, but also because it left us mighty impressed with its unreal dynamics. The Cayenne is proof that Porsche is just as meticulous about the dynamics of its SUVs as it is about the performance of its sports cars. But to understand just how important SUVs are for Porsche right now, you have to glance at the sales figures of not the Cayenne, but its smaller sibling - the Macan. Last year, the Macan globally outsold the 911, Boxster and Cayman, combined! In India, however, you have a better chance of spotting the rare 911 GT3 on the road, over a Macan. Doesn’t quite add up? Blame it on the skewed positioning of this highly capable compact SUV. The Macan was positioned way too close to the Cayenne to make any logical sense. But this year onwards, Porsche India will work out a better price and positioning for the car and the timing couldn’t have been better to do that - for the Macan is now updated and the new one promises to be even better.

Design

It is a midlife makeover and not an all-new car, but the design has been updated to fall in line with all of the new-generation Porsches. So you get a seamless strip of lighting on the tailgate and that’s the easiest way of identifying the new Macan from the older one. The Macan was one of the first Porsches to feature the new three-dimensional sculpting on the tail lights and the new one looks all the better with the seamless design. Furthermore, it also highlights the width of the car and makes it appear larger than the outgoing model.