Porsche Macan launched in India at Rs 98.18 lakh.

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When we first learnt that Porsche’s baby SUV, the Macan, was making its way to India, we knew it would be expensive, and quite close in price to the bigger Cayenne. However, Porsche has launched the Macan in India today, starting at Rs 98.18 lakh (ex-showroom, Maharashtra), which is a fair bit higher than we expected.

The Porsche Macan SUV is currently available in two variants, the S Diesel and the range-topping, petrol-powered Turbo; the former costing Rs 98.18 lakh  and the latter Rs 1.08 crore (ex-showroom, Maharashtra). So why does this small Porsche SUV carry a price tag higher than its bigger sibling? The answer lies in the equipment specification.

All Porsche cars, including the Cayenne, are offered with not too much standard equipment and a long list of paid options, which means it’s quite easy to double the car’s ‘base’ price with additional equipment. The Macan, on the other hand, is available with a substantial amount of standard equipment. On the Macan Turbo, this includes adaptive air suspension with adjustable ride height, adaptive bi-xenon headlamps, sports exhaust, three-zone automatic climate control, an electrically operated tailgate and all the media and connectivity options you’d expect. Of this, the Macan S Diesel misses out on the adaptive headlights, Bose audio system, 18-way sports seats and Porsche Communication Management with sat-nav. You can, however, still add more options on top of this, like Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, a panoramic sunroof, Alcantara roof lining and different sizes and styles of alloy wheels, among a whole lot of other things, which will only bump the price higher. Still, adding even the Macan's standard equipment to a bare-bones Cayenne would no doubt pile on a few lakh rupees to its price.

The Macan S Diesel is powered by a 241bhp, 59kgm 3.0-litre diesel V6, while the Macan Turbo uses a twin-turbocharged 3.6-litre petrol V6 that produces 394bhp. Both are paired to Porsche’s PDK dual-clutch automatic gearboxes.

Even with all the equipment the Porsche Macan gets as standard, a Rs 98.18 lakh price tag may still seem hard to swallow for an SUV that is about the size of an Audi Q5. The thing is, as we discovered in our exclusive Indian drive of the Macan S Diesel, this car drives unlike any other SUV we’ve ever tested, and its sportscar-like handling is what, Porsche says, puts it above more conventional luxury SUVs. For purists, that’s clearly justification enough, as the 2014 allocation of the Macan, internationally and in India, is already sold out.

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