Porsche has just revealed an extensively overhauled version of its Taycan EV but already thoughts are turning to what a successor could look like, with the brand committed to retaining the name well into the future.
Speaking to Autocar at a prototype drive of the new car, Taycan model line boss Kevin Giek revealed that Porsche is confident there will long be a position in the range for the Taycan, even once the similarly sized Panamera goes electric in the future.
“We have a high interest to keep it as a long-lasting car line, like the 911 – like we do with all our car lines,” said Giek.
“When we decide to have a new model line, we don’t think about only having it for three or four years.” As the Taycan enters its fourth year on sale, it has been significantly upgraded in all key areas with learnings from the 150,000 owners it has since found homes with worldwide.
Maximum range is up to 422 miles, power to 939bhp and charging speed to 320kW. However, Giek suggested this will not be the Taycan in its final form and hinted at plans to continue upgrading the model as new technologies and opportunities emerge.
“We want to keep the Taycan as an innovator, to show what is possible and what is our definition of a BEV sports car,” he said. “We will continue to improve the car all the time.”
Aside from the Taycan’s demonstrable commercial success, it remains hugely important as a halo car – and technological base – for Porsche’s electric car line-up, which has been recently expanded with the new Macan EV and will soon be supplemented by a technically related Cayenne and a replacement for the Boxster.
“The first Taycan was our first step into BEV and there we learned a lot that we can now benefit from for all the others,” said Giek. Talk of the Taycan’s longevity – potentially it could enter into a new generation in around 2028 when the current car turns eight years old – raises questions about how it could co-exist with any electric replacement for today’s petrol-powered Panamera saloon, which is only slightly larger in all dimensions.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Porsche making an EV Panamera along side the Taycan makes no sense at all. They would be the same car.
Apart from both being Porsches, the Taycan and the Panamera share one other thing in common - both models have poor residuals, especially when compared to other Porsche models.
Now that some other legacy car makers are slowing down their move from ICE to EV only production, I wonder whether Porsche is having second thoughts about its EV plans.
Porsche Taycan poor residual, says who.
In the UK and US at least, used Taycan prices are very soft and lots of owners who bought them on finance are in negative equity. This is not news.
How scientific, not. Auto express said in sept 23 of the Taycan to expect to retain 70 per of the value after 3 years, pretty good. I trust them more than you too.
I'm afraid that that information from AutoExpress last autumn was inaccurate. The vast majority of Taycans sold to date in the UK were bought by fleet buyers or on lease for tax purposes. Consequently, a lot of 3-year-old Taycans have been hitting the used car market since last autumn. A high percentage of them are Turbos. Porsche dealers are not keen on taking them in part exchange and offer low trade-in values. Private buyers looking at used EVs are put off by poor finance quotes for used Taycans. Some of the problems with used Taycan values are because of the cars themselves (reliability, software issues, real world range/efficiency, etc.) and some are related to the international used EV market generally. Problems with the used EV market include the price cuts that Tesla made early last year, the recent decision by Hertz to offload most of the EVs it bought over the last several years, the over-production of many EVs, and the mismatch between the EVs currently for sale and the EVs that most private buyers can afford. The Taycan might be a great EV to drive but at that moment it's not a good financial investment.