We first heard rumors of delivery delays regarding 2017 Porsche Macans as far back as February of this year. At the time, that’s all they were, rumors. Member on the MacanForum.com were posting stories of delayed deliveries with no reasonable explanations given to them for the delay. As more members started to chime in, more speculation built. Buyers could clearly track their deliveries and see they had made it to US soil, but they weren’t leaving those ports and being delivered to customers. Why were the 2017 Macans stuck in port? Today, we learned the “official” reason thanks to a story in Automotive News.
“All 2017 Porsche Macans shipped to the U.S. so far that were destined for states subject to California Air Resources Board certification have been grounded at U.S. ports for several weeks, Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Porsche Cars North America, confirmed to Automotive News.”
What is CARB? Why are they causing a Delay?
“CARB” is the California Air Resources Board that governs the air quality in the state. It’s actually much more complicated then that, but that’s for a different/longer discussion. Because California’s regulations are so strict, more so than some federal regulations, certain other states have opted to follow California’s lead. Within automotive circles those states are known as CARB states and consist of: Arizona [2012 model year, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico (2011 model year), New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. Within these states there is a “formal procedure” to get the Macan homologated and it is that procedure that is dictating the pace.
Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Porsche Cars North America, said the following to automotive news, “We’re running behind schedule to get the Macan homologated for model year ’17, but we’re just about to fix that. It takes longer, but we’re following procedure.”
“The formal procedure is setting the pace for us, and we understand that,” added Zellmer.
Apparently, since the whole VW dieselgate issue, regulator are paying extra attention to the process for emission testing and this is causing it to take longer for new models to become certified.
We have an email into PCNA for comment, and will update the story when we hear back.
