The charging of the guard
WHAT IS IT that sets a Porsche performance car apart? What are those elements that win industry awards with such metronomic regularity? You could argue that astonishing handling, detailed feedback, high-definition control integrity and a fundamental understanding of what keen drivers need, born from years of competition success, represent the special sauce. As sacrilegious as it sounds, it’s often not about the engine. Horsepower is an easily replicable attribute.
Think about that in the context of the Taycan, Porsche’s first electric car of the modern era. Cynics might snipe that here is a vehicle trying to replicate something that Tesla achieved with its Model S in 2012, or that minus an internal-combustion engine, the Taycan is somehow commoditised; a generic skateboard draped in Zuffenhausen’s dress-up. Nothing could be further from the truth. Program director Stefan Weckbach has heard the objections before.
“The Taycan looks like a Porsche, drives like a Porsche, and feels like a Porsche; it just happens to have a different type of drive,” he says. “Even an electric sports car can be puristic and highly emotional. We don’t consider that a contradiction. On the contrary, with the optimum drive technology and the right vehicle concept, the Porsche characteristics can be brought even more to the fore.”
Its positioning in the market is unambiguous. “It was clear from the beginning that an electrically powered Porsche – like every other Porsche model – must be the sportiest vehicle in its segment,” says Weckbach.
