It’s the handling precision and overall breadth of the dynamics that really got our attention the first time out in the new Macan, though.

Meier says a lot of effort has gone into ensuring its characteristics have a genuine Porsche feel, and indeed it’s terrifically fluent by EV standards, with a defined rear-biased apportioning of power and an ability to make quick changes of direction with loads of confidence-inspiring grip at both ends – even though our test cars were wearing all-terrain tyres. (Aiding this agility on the Turbo is a rear-wheel steering system.)

The steering is very precise and weightier than that of the SQ6 E-tron, which we recently drove in prototype form. The Porsche Active Suspension Management system that will come as standard on the Macan Turbo gets air springs and new twin-valve dampers, providing outstanding body control and self-levelling. There’s a firmness to the ride and some excessive road roar at times.

However, it takes care of pockmarked and broken bitumen with deft control, rarely requiring more than a single cycle of compression and rebound to dissipate road shock. (Note, though, that lower-grade Macans will ride on less sophisticated steel suspension.)

Further praise should be heaped on the brakes. They deliver lots of feel by EV standards, blending in the recuperation functions well without resorting to a decoupling of drive to the front axle, as some do. 

“We don’t talk about one-pedal driving at Porsche; we talk about one-pedal braking instead,” says Meier, in reference to many EVs’ heavy use of regenerative braking.