Is The Porsche Macan The First Car To Switch From Gasoline To Electric Without Adding An ‘E’ Or Something To Its Name?

Porsche Macan Ev Ts2
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Most major automakers are now well into their transition into building electric vehicles en masse. GM has the Silverado EV and the Blazer EV, Ford has the F-150 Lightning, and Stellantis has the Fiat 500e and a bunch of other stuff in the pipeline. All of these models have something in common, and it’s something their gasoline-powered counterparts never had.

Figured it out yet? That’s right – they’ve all got some kind of signifier in the name that screams “this is an electric vehicle, yo!” It’s not a crime, of course – after all, everybody’s doing it! If companies aren’t tacking an “E” or “EV” or “Electric” on to the end of a model name, they’re switching to all-new naming schemes entirely. Hyundai has the Ioniq 5 and 6, Volkswagen has the ID.3, ID.4, and ID.5, and Mercedes decided to throw class out the window with its EGQRPFJKHGLSD naming scheme for its electric models.

Has any manufacturer bucked this trend? We had a brainstorming session at The Autopian offices today and came up with just one: the latest Porsche Macan. It’s not the Macan Electric, Macan EV, or the Macan McZappy Edition. It’s just Macan. Even the trims don’t specifically reference electricity – customers can choose the Macan 4 or Macan Turbo, and that’s it.

Macan 4 And Macan Turbo 1 1024x683 A3 Rgb
The Macan 4 and Macan Turbo. Hilariously, Porsche has already seen controversy for using the “Turbo” moniker for EVs, which obviously don’t feature turbochargers. That continues with the electric Macan. 

There’s every chance we’ve missed another obvious example, though. Feel free to blast me in the comments with any other models that have transitioned from ICE power to electric without tacking a suffix on the name – or, without resurrecting an old name for a new EV model.

To wit: think the Buick Electra, or the Acura ZDX. Both are electric, and their predecessors were ICE-powered. However, each spent a great deal of time out of production. Porsche, on the other hand, is transitioning an existing model to all-electric as one generation ends and the other begins. Previously, the company gave its first EV a totally unique name: Taycan. The electrified Panamera followed with the E-Hybrid moniker. Now, Porsche is bringing electric drive into its mainstream, bread-and-butter model lineup. Internal-combustion Macans will continue production alongside the electric models, but the latter aren’t getting singled out with a special e-name. Whether it carries gasoline or a battery, a Macan is a Macan.
Macan Turbo Sgp 1024x683 A3 Rgb (1)
Porsche is well aware of what it’s doing. Speaking to InsideEVs, North America CEO Timo Resch noted it was past time to ditch special names for EV models. “I’m personally convinced that the direction to not create offers that are distinguished by design or naming is the way forward,” said Resch.

It’s a pivotal moment in the automotive industry. With this move, Porsche is saying that electric cars are just cars. There’s no need to go out of your way to highlight it, because EVs aren’t strange fantastical unicorns anymore. A great deal of people have bought or driven one, and we’re all getting more familiar with them every day.

Mercedes gave its electric models EQ names to differentiate them from its traditional product lines.
Kia Ev6
Kia’s electric models literally start with “EV”.

The key is what comes next. Other automakers are likely to follow Porsche’s example in time. Tags like “EV” and “Electric” are becoming unnecessary. People know that some cars are electric now, even if you don’t plaster it all over the body in badges and blue outlines. Expect these “e” suffixes to become dated and uncool. Remember when a ton of companies rushed to stick a lower-case i in front of their products in the wake of the Apple iPod and iMac? Fast forward a few years, and that whole schtick was totally worn out. It’ll be the same here.

Besides, nobody’s buying a Peugeot 3008 Petroleum or Acura Integra FlammableLiquid, right? We know that cars have engines that burn fossil fuels, so we don’t feel the need to point that out in the name. It’s going to be the same way for EVs soon enough.

We can already see hints of change afoot. Word on the street is that Mercedes will soon abandon the “EQ” badging for its EVs as it offers more electric models. Mini is getting close, with the next-generation electric models simply known as the Cooper E and SE. That’s almost vague enough that you could miss it entirely. Perhaps the next Chevy Equinox will retain its regular name without feeling the need to tack “EV” on the end.

As for American muscle, it looks like the electric sequel to the Charger might go a similar route, and will  be known as the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT. The Daytona name will differentiate it from ICE-powered models, but there doesn’t appear to be any electrically-themed naming going on there.

What if Toyota just one day decided the next Camry was going all-electric, and it was still going to be just a Camry? Not the Camry Electron, or the Camry E, or the C4Qx2p!#, just the Camry. That would tell you that the electric era had truly arrived.

Fundamentally, Porsche has decided that tacking on electric-specific branding is no longer necessary. Customers don’t need their hands held, they can understand what an EV is without training wheels anymore. Trends shift and change, and Porsche has made sure it’s at the forefront of this one. Let’s see who follows next.

Image credits: Porsche, Mercedes, Hyundai

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44 thoughts on “Is The Porsche Macan The First Car To Switch From Gasoline To Electric Without Adding An ‘E’ Or Something To Its Name?”

  2. Mercedes decided to throw class out the window with its EGQRPFJKHGLSD naming scheme for its electric models.

    And EGQRPFJKHGLSDK for the turbo model.

  8. Too soon. It is all about marketing and educating and preparing the less auto enthused crowd for electronic cars. Use that ICE name with a small tweak and yeah just a different version.of course Tesla and all electric brands slowly inculcate the EV to mainstream think. Frankly as a daily reader here I still have trouble delivering ICE, Hybrid, and EV vehicles apart. Now when they get to 25-30% of the market you can start separately selling them without differentiating them because a new generation has passed. Remember not everyone works or reads auto content regularly. And without magazines in Dr’s Offices it evolves more slowly. Do a poll among the 50 and older crowd, if they can properly define between vehicles then probably time, not by auto makers and journalists. Too Manu people hang out with just like minded people and assume their group is a general segment of the population. It’s why car ideas that can’t miss actually miss because the general demographics weren’t checked. See this is what Marketing should be doing as opposed to buzz words and cocaine.

  10. Of course on German cars E has generally stood for Einspritzen starting 60 years ago, but now that all ICE cars are Einspritzen guess it’s not something that needs to be called out.

    1. I figured it was a throwback to the 1980’s, when it seemed like every product from cassette players to fridges had a big TURBO decal on them somewhere.

  11. Honestly, pretty cool. Not a fan of “Turbo” in that context, but still–appreciate the direction.

    Gotta be careful to not make ICE vehicles too appealing though….I feel like you’d get some sales solely out of the model name “____ FlammableLiquid”.

      1. No, BMW would have the X7 Special Edition Enhanced Customer Experience in Mobility Solutions Devoted to Pretentious People Limited Production 50th Anniversary of Some Obscure Model (although as an Autopian I appreciate the love of obscure things)

  16. It’s not the first. One earlier example is the Smith Flyer/Briggs & Stratton Flyer/Red Bug/Auto Red Bug which went through a series of ownership and name changes but none of these rebrandings coincided with its change from gasoline to electric power. That switch occurred during the interval in which it was being produced as the Red Bug, circa 1924. It is a street-legal car, if only just barely.

  18. *weeps with joy*

    Remember that early 00’s trend when the hybrid model or version of an existing model had to look crazy and different? And there was much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth about why people didn’t want them, why weren’t they selling?

    NO ONE seemed to pick up on the idea that that maybe the cars should just look like… cars, and it was maddening. Why aren’t the two-tone HYBRID BubbleFish Deluxe selling like F-150cakes? see!! America hates hybrids!

    I still have now idea which is which in VW’s ID.whatever lineup. It’s not that it’s even that hard, it’s that an ID.3 looks like a low level protocol address, not a vehicle name. Good on you, Porsche, for bringing the fight not just to the styling but the name.

    2. Buuut, they are still using Turbo for the quick one. So it’s not all good.

      Porsche Macan with extra capacitors, now that just rolls off the tongue…lol… okay, okay Turbo is more better…

  19. This is one of the things that’s been ticking me off, if all cars are going to be electric, then you shouldn’t need special sub-brands to designate electric cars, just integrate them into the range as normal.

    The worst is stuff like the GMC HUMMER EV – there is no non-electric HUMMER version, so why does it need “EV” in the name?

  20. In fairness to the Lightning, I expect F-150s to be among the last of Ford’s vehicles to go electric-only, so it’s reasonable to have a differentiator there for a bit.

    And besides, the name actually suits the current iteration better than the previous ones.

    1. And Ford has labelled certain F150 models Lightnings for decades! So it’s not actually a new name.

      They could have called it the Mustang Mach 150 – Lightning is the sane choice.

      1. You make me wonder how the drama over “Mach-e” is going.

        From what I can tell, none of the buyers seem to care, and there doesn’t seem to be a flood of people bragging about their electric Mustangs OR getting enraged at the very audacity anymore.

        Sure seems Ford could just stealth give it another name (Freestyle –> Taurus) and it’d be fine and a little future-proofed for when Ford does release an actual electric Mustang.

      2. Exactly. In fact, the F150 Lightning belongs in the same category as the Buick Electra and Acura ZDX, a resurrected nameplate applied to a new EV.

  22. “What if Toyota just one day decided the next Camry was going all-electric, and it was still going to be just a Camry? Not the Camry Electron, or the Camry E, or the C4Qx2p!#, just the Camry. That would tell you that the electric era had truly arrived.”

    This is pretty close to what Toyota did with the latest generation of Camry. After years of offering conventional and hybrid drivetrains, Toyota quietly switched all new Camrys to hybrid drivetrains. They also deleted the badging that denoted hybrid cars of earlier generations. In Toyota’s mind, the hybrid era has truly arrived, and they no longer feel the need to advertise it or to support conventional drivetrains in this model.

    And this isn’t an oddball niche product like a Veyron, XR4Ti, or even an i3. This is a really, really popular model from a famously conservative company!

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