QANTAS’ Valet car park is home to a pretty impressive lineup of vehicles most days of the week. But when Porsche decides to use it as the start point of a drive event, things get switched up a notch. So it was early this week when Madam Wheels arrived at Melbourne Airport to join an Australian media launch of the brand’s medium-size SUV, the Macan S. A fleet of vehicles were lined up awaiting our inspection in the usual shades of silver and gun-metal grey along with a few pops of colour dubbed Miami Blue, Mamba Green, Carmine Red and a mahogany hue which might best be left on the palette board.
I was skeptical about the Macan when it was first introduced to Australia in 2014, believing like many others that it would dilute the brand’s rarified prestige sports-car allure. Whether it has or not remains a moot point because, not only did the Macan immediately become Porsche’s best-selling model by far, it appears to have single-handedly saved the brand from certain death. This was my opportunity to find out how.