Date of unveil of official photos: 2-litre July 25, 2018, 3-litre December 11, 2018 Premiere: July 25, 2018, Shanghai World market launch: in the end of 2018 as 2019 models
The 95B.2 was launched at Macan's biggest market - China - in Shanghai in July 2018. Just the Chinese base version was shown and advertised. It carried over the 2-litre turbocharged non-hybrid engine from the previous generation. No word about the hybrid versions.
European premiere of the 95B.2 happened at the 2018 Paris motor show in the beginning of October, and again, only the 2-litre base version was shown. The 2-litre 4-cylinder engine is an Audi unit like it was in the original Macan, just that the cars now have the new gasoline particulate filter (GPF). The GPF became mandatory in Europe from September 1, 2018. It is essentially an obstacle in the exhaust system and therefore decreases the power a bit. No GPF for the cars made for China (which therefore don't lose on power).
About the GPF background: DPF diesel particulate filters have long been mandatory in exhaust system in all diesel-engined cars sold in Europe while China has banned diesel engines altogether long-long time ago, so now it was the time for exhaust gas filter also for gasoline powered cars sold in EU (but not yet in China).
Talking about the exterior design, the front end is almost the same as before and the side view is identical. The rear lid lamp panel is a new exterior feature on the 95B.2-generation compared to the 95B.1. New options include the Traffic Jam Assist, an extension to the adaptive cruise control. Not only does the system feature partially automated braking and acceleration up to 37 mph/60 km/h – it also assists with steering in a traffic jam or in slow-moving traffic making it a self-driving car.
The 6-cylinder Macan S was unveiled with the Porsche press release on December 11, 2018. While the original Macan S and GTS (95B.1) had twin-turbo Porsche 3.0V6 engines, the 95B.2 S-version has a single-turbo 3.0V6 Audi engine. The Audi engine, with the twin-scroll turbocharger on top of the engine (between the 'V'), comes with the GPF in the exhaust system, so it's power figure - which is between the Macan S and the Macan GTS of the previous generation - is OK. No good news for the die-hard Porsche fans, though, as for them a Porsche starts with a Porsche engine.
On the front axle, steel spring forks were replaced with aluminium units and Macan S was equipped with larger front brakes - disc diameter was increased by 10 mm to 360 mm, and thickness by 2 mm to 36 mm.
