Porsche is publicly rethinking its rush away from combustion engines, acknowledging that customers and markets were not ready to follow it as quickly as planned. After years of positioning itself as a front runner in premium electric cars, the sports car maker is now conceding that dropping key gasoline models was a strategic misstep and is rebuilding its lineup around a more balanced mix of powertrains.
The shift is not just about one car. It reflects a broader reset of Porsche’s product strategy, leadership priorities, and view of how fast the “Great EV Slowdown” is reshaping demand for performance vehicles in Europe, the United States, and China.
From EV poster child to public mea culpa
The clearest sign of Porsche’s change of heart came when the company admitted it had mishandled plans to discontinue a core gasoline model, telling investors and fans that it had been wrong to axe that car without a timely replacement. In coverage of that admission, the company’s own framing, “We Were Wrong About Axing An Important Gas Model,” underlined how far Porsche has moved from the certainty that once surrounded its electric roadmap. The model in question will not see a successor until 2028, leaving a long gap that has frustrated loyal buyers and highlighted how aggressively the company had tried to pivot away from internal combustion.
This rethink coincides with a leadership transition at the top of the company. Former Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, who also leads the wider Volkswagen Group, has stepped aside from the sports car brand after roughly a decade in charge, with reporting noting that he is making way for a successor to take its place at Zuffenhausen. In a detailed look at his tenure, writer Michael Accardi described how Oliver Blume effectively “said the quiet part out loud” by acknowledging that the company had pushed too hard and too fast on certain EV bets, a rare moment of candor in an industry that usually couches reversals in vague language.
Realigning the product plan around a slower transition
Inside Porsche, the rethink has been formalized as a realignment of the product strategy that explicitly accepts a slower transition to full electrification. Company leadership has said that “Today we have set the final steps in the realignment of our product strategy,” a phrase that captures how management now sees the current plan as a reset rather than a minor tweak. In its own corporate communications, Porsche has framed this as a response to “massive” changes in the market environment and has outlined a new roadmap in which combustion, hybrid, and battery electric models coexist for longer, with the official realignment document stressing that some previously announced EV timelines will now “take place at a later date.
External analysts have been blunt in their assessment of how far Porsche’s ambitions have been scaled back. A widely shared video titled “How Porsche Lost Its Way” describes how the German sports car icon “slammed the brakes” on its electric push, arguing that the company misread both infrastructure readiness and customer appetite for high priced EVs in key markets. That critique dovetails with Porsche’s own admission that the transition is proving more complex than early forecasts suggested, and it helps explain why the brand is now leaning on plug in hybrids and efficient combustion engines as a bridge through the 2030s instead of racing toward an all electric showroom.
Flagship SUVs show how far the pivot goes
The most visible proof of Porsche’s new thinking is in its SUV strategy, where the company is walking back earlier plans to lead with pure EVs at the top of the range. Its upcoming K1 flagship, once expected to be a showcase electric model, will now “initially debut” with traditional combustion and plug in hybrid powertrains only, a decision the company has confirmed as part of a more “flexible, two track approach” to future products. That change, detailed in reporting on how Porsche is hitting the brakes on EV plans, signals that even halo vehicles will not be used as pure electric flagships if the business case is not there.
At the same time, Porsche is preparing a new gasoline SUV in the Macan segment to keep traditional buyers in the fold. Reporting on the project notes that the company is “evaluating an independent model line in the SUV segment” that would sit alongside the electric Macan rather than replacing it, with rumors suggesting this new SUV will arrive around the time the current gas powered 718 ends production. Coverage of the plan stresses that, Additionally, Porsche will not add combustion engines back into the electric Macan, which means the new SUV is being developed precisely to serve customers who still want a gas powered compact performance crossover.
Macan, 718 and the long tail of combustion
The Macan itself sits at the center of Porsche’s balancing act. The company has already told investors that it plans to end production of the gasoline powered Macan in 2026, even as it keeps the electric version on sale. According to CFO Jochen Breckner, Porsche will stop output of the combustion Macan entirely, a move that was confirmed when the company said it would end production of its bestselling compact SUV with internal combustion engines by that year. The decision, detailed in a report on how Porsche will end Macan ICE production, shows that even as the brand leans back into gasoline in some areas, it is still willing to draw a line under certain legacy models.
Yet the 718 story shows how fluid those lines have become. During a Friday investor call, CEO Oliver Blume told analysts that Porsche is reacting to the Great EV Slowdown and will keep gasoline versions of the 718 on sale “well into the 2030s,” a striking reversal from earlier plans to move the mid engine sports car fully electric on a much shorter timeline. Reporting on that call notes that, According to CEO Oliver Blume, the company now sees a long future for combustion 718s, a stance that directly reflects Porsche’s admission that it misjudged how quickly its core sports car customers would embrace battery power.
Leadership reset and a pragmatic future for Porsche performance
The strategic pivot is also being framed as a leadership challenge focused on profitability and realism rather than headline grabbing EV targets. As 2026 begins, Michael Leiters has been identified as the executive stepping in to run Porsche, with his background at Ferrari and McLaren shaping expectations that he will prioritize margins and product discipline. Reporting on his appointment describes his mandate as “Fixing Margins And Resetting The EV Plan,” and notes that the company has already signaled it will lean harder on combustion and hybrid models to support profitability while it recalibrates its electric rollout.
That recalibration is visible in how Porsche now talks about the broader market. During its 2025 annual conference, the German automaker told investors it is “evaluating an independent model line in the SUV segment” positioned in the Macan class, and explicitly acknowledged that “the transition to electric mobility is taking longer than expected” and that it therefore expects to sell combustion engines through the 2030s. The company’s own social media recap of that event highlighted that this new SUV would likely sit in the Macan segment and that the decision reflects Porsche’s acknowledgment that the transition to electric is slower than once assumed, a message that dovetails with its broader product realignment.
Other core nameplates are being pulled into the same pragmatic framework. Earlier guidance had suggested that the Cayenne and Panamera would remain available “well into the 2030s,” but updated product plans now fold those models into a larger crossover strategy that mixes combustion, hybrid, and electric variants depending on region and customer demand. Reporting on how While the automaker is tearing up parts of its EV roadmap notes that Porsche is preparing a large crossover above Cayenne while still keeping the Cayenne and Panamera in the lineup for years, a sign that the brand now sees combustion engines not as an embarrassing relic but as a necessary part of its performance and profit story for the foreseeable future.
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