Porsche is applying the finishing touches to an all-new, all-electric version of its best-selling Macan.

Since its introduction in 2014, the SUV has been a huge success for the German firm, with just shy of 100,000 examples being sold around the world last year. But after only one generation Porsche will radically overhaul the model, which is due to be replaced within the next 18 months; it’s set to go fully electric, with no new petrol edition planned.

“We already started the development of an electric Macan,” Dr Michael Steiner, Porsche’s executive board member for R&D, told Auto Express. “It is an obligation for us, at Porsche, to think about and work on sporty answers to electric cars.”

Key to the development of the all-new Macan is a new electrical architecture called Premium Platform Electric (PPE) that will underpin larger, higher-riding vehicles from the VW Group. The move to radically overhaul the firm’s most popular new car is considered to be a risky decision, given the relatively small, but growing, market share EVs currently have around the world. So to counter any resistance from buyers who may not want an electric Macan, Porsche will continue to sell the existing SUV alongside the all-new version.

“The electric Macan will be based on a new electric platform, not a derivative,” Steiner explained to us. “It was developed jointly with Audi, and is called the PPE. Knowing that there is not a lot of speed in the transition from ICE to electric, we are preparing to have both paths running in parallel.