Wednesday 13th June 2018

Porsche wants you to know the Taycan is coming

Porsche's first all-electric car is probably a year away. But the ground is already being softened

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You can expect Porsche to be talking about 'soul' a lot over the next twelve months. It will need to. Its first electric car - the Taycan, as it was announced last week - will be a four-seat model in the Panamera mould, meaning that it will be a rival for the Tesla Model S and every other prestige zero-emission saloon-shaped model on the drawing board. Given the fundamental similarities of anything powered by electric motors and underfloor batteries, its badge - and the cachet that comes with it - will be a key point of differentiation.

The Taycan itself has already been heavily previewed, not least with the Mission E concept that we saw at Geneva. The production version though is clearly at an advanced stage as the latest teaser video shows. Alongside the corporate-level puffery, Porsche has also let its highest profile works driver (and actually fairly decent presenter) Mark Webber take the prototype for a spin on its own test track. It's by virtue of this video that we know that the Taycan will have '600hp' - alongside the 300ish mile range and the ability to fast charge to 80 per cent battery capacity in 15 minutes that was suggested by the concept.

 

Naturally you can take everything else the big Aussie says with a pinch of salt given the signature on his cheques, but the enormous pace and traction of the all-wheel drive Taycan is probably beyond serious question, no matter how much heavier it is than anything else built in Zuffenhausen. Everything else in the equation though is still up for grabs; including the 'game-changing' status claimed for the car. Despite Porsche's plea to the heart, the new model will ultimately need to appeal to the head of deep-pocketed early-adopters as well. To this end, the manufacturer is said to have future-proofed the Taycan with 800v charging technology and it will likely be invested with Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities and over-the-air updates by the time it hits showrooms.

The charge time alone maybe the clincher. Porsche is rumoured to have teamed up with Hitachi to deliver a superior level of lithium-ion battery replenishment (with a suitably hefty charger, of course). The Taycan will also benefit from what is claimed as bespoke architecture, the J1 platform being much lower to the ground than the C-BEV structure that underpins Audi's forthcoming E-tron. In contrast to the SUV, Porsche has mounted the batteries where it most benefits handling and its twin motor configuration ought to give it perfect weight balance, too. Whether or not its engineers can make the result live up to the 'lively, young horse' evoked by its Eurasian name - or, indeed, 'feel' like a Porsche - remains to be seen.

 

[Ursicles]

Porsche need to employ a better marketing department.

What a piss poor name.... a cayman / macan crossbreed with a T at the front?

[Nickp82]

Rubbish name, but what it does have is a very specific set of skills, skills acquired over a very long career etc etc...

[Cold]

Pistonheads. Porsche matters.

[FourWheelDrift]

Resurrect an old name, use 911E for electric.

Here's a nice 911 "E" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJLdzRJdKrs&t=...

[CS Garth]

I give Tesla 2 years

[andy_s]

Ursicles said:

Porsche need to employ a better marketing department.

What a piss poor name.... a cayman / macan crossbreed with a T at the front?

Could be worse - the Bacon, the Gaycan, the Cancan...

[FourWheelDrift]

andy_s said:

Could be worse - the Bacon, the Gaycan, the Cancan...

They could get away with Baycan for the buyers of their gold plated tat the Arabs. It would amuse.

[Sion111R]

Leveraging the Porsche name in to the new electric age.
How will it drive? How will is make you feel?
Success should not be “Taycan” foregranted. (Sorry)

[anonymous-user]

andy_s said:

Ursicles said:

Porsche need to employ a better marketing department.

What a piss poor name.... a cayman / macan crossbreed with a T at the front?

Could be worse - the Bacon, the Gaycan, the Cancan...

Mayman? Caycan?

Porsche moving into the future...
Porsche says; "..we'll still make the 911 and it'll look the same.."

[Buggyjam]

I read a Porsche article in which Porsche recognised and mentioned that sound and experience are an integral part of what owners expect from a Porsche. And that they were working on this to differentiate from the essentially soulless competition (totally my words and interpretation, not theirs).

That mission E is audibly crap. Guess they’re still at the drawing board stage in the “senses” department then or the accountants reckon it’s a load of guff and have sent them all home for a long hard think. Fingers crossed it’s the former and the next inevitable sports milk float doesn’t bring it’s plastic knife and fork to a gun fight.

At least they didn’t call it the Baycon. Close one though.

Edited by Buggyjam on Wednesday 13th June 19:10

[Ninja59]

Liam Neeson called to beat everyone in Porsche who came up with the name.

I think even Mission E sounded better! They might as well call it that! But FFS, someone bottled it.

[Buggyjam]

Ninja59 said:

Liam Neeson called to beat everyone in Porsche who came up with the name.

I think even Mission E sounded better! They might as well call it that! But FFS, someone bottled it.

We’re only a hop skip and a jump from..

The dynamic new Tesla “Safe space”
The exciting new Porsche “We’re sorry”
The rarified “so so sorry GTS”
The unnoticed Ford “this doesn’t exist”
The acceptable Audi “apologist”

[TimmyMallett]

I hope Porsche tore up his cheque after that. Jesus, could be be any less interested?

[Fastdruid]

I'm glad to see a new front end look coming as well rather than trying yet another 911 lookalike.

[sidesauce]

Sion111R said:

Leveraging the Porsche name in to the new electric age.
How will it drive? How will is make you feel?
Success should not be “Taycan” foregranted. (Sorry)

They first leveraged the name with an electric car (Lohner Posche) in the last century so it's nothing new to them. In fact, they were so ahead of the curve that both NASA and Boeing were influenced by it when they designed the Lunar Roving Vehicle for the Apollo mission.

To answer your other questions? It's going to be a good car to drive, of that I'm pretty certain. How it makes me personally feel is simple - it's familiar. Porsche is making a return to something that they only had on the market about 117 years ago...

[Buggyjam]

Nanook said:

.

And all anyone wants to do is moan about the name.

And the sound. But apart from that what have the Romans ever done for us?

[Drive Blind]

so if one of these accelerates past you, you've been Taycan over ?..... or is it over Taycan ?

[Dr Interceptor]

Nanook said:

See, there's method behind the naming madness!

When they get stolen they're a taken Taycan.

Surely you're both miss-taycan?

[anonymous-user]

All this hate for Porsche yet everyone loves Tesla, a car devoid of any heritage, style or anything else?

[CS Garth]

yonex said:

All this hate for Porsche yet everyone loves Tesla, a car devoid of any heritage, style or anything else?

When Tesla stood alone as the purveyor of upmarket milk floats, buying one showed you were environmentally aware, forward thinking and moneyed. You were purchasing a strong virtue signaller whether this was your reason for purchase or other more prosaic reasons.

Since they've cocked up on the Model 3 production and there is a stampede about to arrive in their space as the other manufacturers make up lost ground, I think their branding , and people's loyalty to it, is about to be sorely tested.