German luxury carmaker Porsche has officially unveiled its Taycan Cross Turismo, a low-set, high-end tourer that is now available to order in Australia from a hefty $201,000.
Previewed in February with Stefan Weckbach, who heads the Taycan model line, behind the wheel, the Cross Turismo will be available in Australia in two variants: the 4S and the upper-range Turbo which starts from $271,200.
It is billed as the “off-road” sibling of Porsche’s sportier Taycan sedan, and says that its all-wheel drive and adaptive air suspension make it more suitable for rigours off the tarmac.
“The future belongs to electric mobility. With the Taycan Cross Turismo, we’re taking another major step in this direction,” said Porsche CEO Oliver Blume at the online world premiere on Friday.
The Taycan Cross Turismo in its 4S format offer 360kW power from its dual motors that tops at 420kW in launch control, and can sprint from a starting position to 100km/.hr in 4.1 seconds to a top speed of 240km/hr.
The top-end Turbo variant beats the 4S with a power output of 460kW (500kW in launch mode), and can sprint to 100km/hr in 3.3 seconds to a top speed of 250mk/hr.
With its “flyline” wagon profile, it also offers more headroom and rear storage which is more accessible thanks to the large rear boot.
If images shared by the carmaker are anything to go on, Porsche thinks the Cross Turismo would also do well with a couple of bikes chucked on the back.
The Cross Turismo will be built at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen factory. It closely resembles the Mission E Cross Turismo that was first presented by the luxury carmaker at the Geneva to Show in 2018.
First units are expected to arrive in Australia in the third quarter of 2021, at which time it will join the 51 Porsche Taycans already on Australian roads since deliveries of that vehicle commenced in late February.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.