Electric luxury and performance winner Taycan still on track for 2020

Porsche Australia says it is still on track to introduce the all-electric Taycan in the latter half of 2020, despite closures of the luxury carmaker’s German factories, including Zuffenhausen, where the Taycan is made.

The Taycan is Porsche’s first foray into electric vehicles and on Wednesday the EV won the best world luxury car and best world performance car in the World Car Awards.  It is Porsche’s sixth win in the world performance car category and its first in the world luxury car category.

“The Porsche Taycan was designed with a clear purpose: To show that an electric car could provide the performance, driving pleasure and everyday comfort and usability that characterizes every Porsche. We are very proud that the international jury of the World Car Awards believes that we have succeeded”, said Porsche chairman Oliver Blume in a statement.

Unveiled in September 2019 hailing a “new era” for the German luxury marque, the Taycan will be offered in Australia in three variants, led by the range-topping Turbo S which The Driven estimates will cost around $400,000, followed by the Turbo at around $350,000 and the entry level Taycan 4S at around $200,000.

Official pricing for the three variants will be revealed in mid-2020, Porsche Australia’s head of public relations Chris Jordan told The Driven.

In addition to pricing, more information regarding specifications as well as charging and infrastructure will also be released in mid-2020, but we expect somewhere between 390-410km driving range based on the European WLTP rating and depending on the variant, acceleration from 0-100km/hr in 2.8 seconds and 560kW power motor equating to 761 horsepower.

Somewhat unique to the Porsche brand is the fact that the Taycan sits in between two existing models rather than being priced beyond its stablemates as is often the case with all-electric vehicles due to the currently high price of batteries.

“It sits in between Cayenne and Panamera,” says Jordan. “It’s a true Porsche, even the way it is positioned in terms of pricing.”

The Taycan is also unique in the current electric car market in that it is the only vehicle to currently boast an 800 volt architecture which is capable of a 350kW maximum charge rate. This is currently limited to 270kW, which equates to a 5-90% charge in less than 25 minutes.

Although the Zuffenhausen factory has been closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic since March 21, Jordan says for the moment the Taycan’s Australian release is still on track.

“We are still looking at [the Taycan] coming to Australia in fourth quarter of this year,” he says. “All those three variants that have  been unveiled will come at around the same time.”

On whether a reopening date for Zuffenhausen and Leipzig has yet been confirmed, Jordan said that, “We don’t know yet…we’re talking to Germany every day.”

The three Taycan variants are expected to be joined by a fourth, a high riding Cross Turismo that was first seen in concept format in late 2018 and spied more recently in Europe being tested as a prototype.

The Taycan will be joined by the next generation all-electric Macan, which is due to be built at Leipzig alongside its internal combustion engine equivalent for a 2021 launch.