Porsche’s 70th anniversary celebration continues as
the company has used the event to announce the production version of the
Mission E concept will be called the Taycan. Meaning “lively young horse,” in a
reference to the animal on the company’s crest, the Taycan will become
Porsche’s first electric sports car when it enters production next year.
Besides confirming the name, Porsche CEO Oliver
Blume revealed the Taycan will be powered by two electric motors that produce a
combined output of more than 592 hp. This will enable the car
to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds and 0-200 km/h in less than 12 seconds. Despite the impressive performance, the Taycan
will have a range in excess of 500 km in the New European Driving
Cycle.
When the battery is depleted, it can be rapidly
recharged in just a matter of minutes. Porsche says a four minute charge will
be good enough to deliver approximately 100 km of range. That’s an
huge improvement over current electric vehicles and this should help to make
the model more appealing to consumers.
While the Taycan will be an interesting new addition
to the Porsche lineup, it won’t be alone as the company has confirmed plans to
spend approximately € 500 (US$ 588) million on the “development of Taycan variants
and derivatives.” Porsche declined to elaborate but the company has strongly
hinted at a production version of the Mission E Cross Turismo concept. Earlier
this week, the automaker said the concept “gives an insight into how a Turismo
variant, with cross-utility attributes, could look in the future.”
On top of the new Taycan and its related variants,
Porsche will spend around € 1 (US$ 1.1) billion for electrification and
hybridization of its existing product range.
