'There's a clear trend': Electric cars struggle to gain traction as premium carmakers like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Fiat pivot to hybrid and combustion engine development

There’s a reason why McDonald’s sells Big Macs and cheeseburgers and not salads and protein shakes — that’s what people want.

The car industry is learning this lesson now, but in a more expensive way with brands that had committed to electric futures forced to backpedal as internal combustion remains the overwhelming choice for consumers.

In a recent conference call, Porsche chief financial officer Lutz Meschke explained why the company has completely rethought its future model line-up with plans to have all but the 911 electric by the end of the decade scrapped.

Instead, the Cayenne and Panamera will carry on with petrol power for the foreseeable future in the wake of softening demand for the Taycan electric sports sedan and a seemingly disappointing reception for the new electric Macan.

“A lot of customers in the premium and luxury segment are looking in the direction of combustion-engined cars, there’s a clear trend,” Meschke said.

While plug-in hybrids will continue to be invested in, Meschke made it clear that Porsche will be keeping its options open to adjust to the preferences of the market. He also appeared to indicate that the Taycan and new Macan could be reverse engineered for an internal combustion engine. 

“As for our electrified line-up, we are very flexible when it comes to our production footprint,” he explained. “We can produce combustion engine, plug-in hybrids and electrified cars in one production line in Leipzig. When it comes to research and development, you’ll see more flexibility in the upcoming years. We will develop new combustion-engined derivatives [of the EV models] in order to give the right answer to customer demand.”

Porsche is hardly alone in this situation either. Mercedes-Benz has also said it will have what it’s calling ‘tactical flexibility’ with vehicle platforms, creating architectures that can accommodate both ICE and EV powertrains in order to give itself a better chance in these changing times.

At the other end of the market, Fiat is re-engineering its 500e to take a hybrid engine as sales of the electric city car have been well below expectations.

While EV sales continue to grow in Australia they still make up only a small portion of the market, so car makers operating here will likely remain focused on ICE, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models in order to balance consumer demand and in the incoming New Vehicle Efficiency Standards.