Porsche ditching ICE Macan in EU is a win for U.S.

Porsche's decision to ditch selling the gasoline-powered Macan in the European Union could be good news for U.S. retailers.

The German sports carmaker will halt sales of the compact Macan crossover in the spring — earlier than planned — because it does not meet new rules on cybersecurity regulations. Porsche said that updating the vehicle, developed before the requirements of the cybersecurity regulations were known, would be too costly.

Europe's loss could be a win for Porsche's American dealers as some of the EU-market supply will likely be redirected to the U.S.

The Macan is Porsche's best-selling model in the U.S., accounting for more than a third of Porsche's U.S. sales last year. Porsche retailer Robert DiStanislao said he would welcome additional allocations of the hot-selling compact crossover.

"If more ICE cars free up for the U.S. market, we will be more closely mirroring the demand for Macan," said DiStanislao, president of RDS Automotive Group, which operates a Porsche store in suburban Philadelphia.

The Macan is an entry point into the Porsche brand, DiStanislao said. "It's the most widely accepted Porsche I've ever seen," he said.

Porsche had intended to quit selling the combustion engine Macan in the U.S. in 2025 or 2026 following the introduction of an all-electric version this summer.

But Porsche told its U.S. retailers in June that it was reviewing that timeline to better gauge consumer demand for the battery-powered Macan.

While 2023 EV sales broke the 1 million milestone in November, according to NADA, demand is cooling, and battery vehicles are now piling up at dealership lots.

Cox Automotive said EV inventory increased by 92 percent last year, averaging 113 days' supply to end the year. In comparison, overall inventory stood at 69 days.

Concerns about the lack of a well-maintained public charging infrastructure also has Porsche apprehensive about going electric-only with the bread-and-butter model. In December, Porsche said it would adopt the North American Charging Standard charging port in 2025. That gives Porsche EV owners access to Tesla's network of more than 15,000 Superchargers.

DiStanislao is lukewarm on the market prospects of battery-powered vehicles.

Manufacturers should invest in expanding hybrid vehicle supply instead of "leaping to BEVs," he said.

"Mining cobalt and lithium is a bad business. Disposing of EV batteries is not environmentally friendly," DiStanislao said. "We don't have the electric grid capacity to support the projected BEV supply."