Porsche rules out ANCAP safety ratings for its models

Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) says it won't be making submissions to independent auto safety organisation ANCAP for any of its models, despite crash test data for the same models being available from Euro NCAP.

Asked whether the new Cayenne Electric would receive a local ANCAP safety rating following its Australian launch last week, PCA's director for PR and marketing Alexis Truscott told CarExpert: "At this stage we don't have any plans for separate ANCAP testing.

"While Porsche vehicles, including the Cayenne, have achieved strong results in Euro NCAP testing, Porsche Cars Australia does not currently submit vehicles for separate ANCAP testing," Ms Truscott added.

ANCAP has never published a safety rating for any Porsche model, despite the Cayenne Electric and Macan Electric being awarded maximum five-star safety ratings by its European affiliate Euro NCAP, and both the Taycan and the third-generation Cayenne previously receiving Euro NCAP ratings that have now expired.

While sports cars like the Porsche 718 and 911 are rarely submitted for independent crash testing by their manufacturers, most mainstream and premium passenger vehicles including sedans and SUVs are.

The Macan and Cayenne share their underpinnings with various Volkswagen Group models which have current ANCAP and Euro NCAP safety ratings, and it's common for ANCAP ratings to be derived from Euro NCAP ratings of related models – even if they're significantly different in size – as part of what the organisations call the "partner model" protocol.

This allows automakers to submit technical documentation proving that different models which share core structural characteristics will deform similarly in a collision, resulting in shared crash-test data without one model being physically assessed.

Recent examples of this include the Hyundai Elexio mid-size electric SUV's five-star ANCAP rating being based on physical assessment of the related Kia EV5, the large Denza B8 off-road SUV's similar rating being based on testing of the smaller B5, and top ANCAP marks for both the Chery Tiggo 4 small SUV and Tiggo 8 large SUV being based on assessment of the Tiggo 7 medium SUV.

All three Chinese SUVs share the same T1X platform, but have different body sizes, wheelbases, ride heights, and powertrains.

It's unclear why Porsche hasn't submitted Euro NCAP crash-test data for the Cayenne and Macan to ANCAP for local assessment, given there's general parity between the criteria and scoring systems of both independent auto safety bodies.

In a statement submitted to CarExpert, a spokesperson for ANCAP said: "ANCAP is keen to publish locally-applicable safety ratings for Porsche models sold in Australia and New Zealand, however, we do not currently have the technical information needed to establish equivalence with vehicles tested and rated in Europe".

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