Tesla faces stiff competition as Porsche plans to boost Taycan production
It’s starting to look like Porsche’s forthcoming Taycan is poised to give Tesla some serious competition in the luxury EV space. Earlier this year, word surfaced that Porsche was doubling production from 20,000 units to 40,000 units due to overwhelmingly strong demand. While that was nothing more than a rumor, Porsche has since confirmed plans to boost Taycan production, though the company didn’t disclose exact figures.
In a statement earlier today, Porsche’s Detlev von Platen — the company’s chief of sales and marketing — said the following: “The overwhelming interest in the Taycan shows us that our customers and fans are just as excited about the first Porsche electric athlete as we are. We’ve therefore increased our production capacities.”
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Driving the point home, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume relayed the same message via a new interview with Autogazette.de, portions of which were posted on Porsche’s website earlier today.
In light of the extraordinarily high level of demand, we will increase our production capacities. If there are waiting times, we might take the opportunity to gently introduce customers to the Taycan; so for example, we could make a Panamera plug-in hybrid temporarily available to customers before they receive a Taycan. But right now we’re awaiting the start of production before we talk about specific delivery times.
Blume also added that the Taycan will be available in two battery sizes and that the entry-level option will cost less than $112,000. Previous reports have indicated that it may fall somewhere in the $85,000 range.
Spec wise, the Taycan looks to be extremely compelling. Porsche has previously said that its first all-electric car will boast a range of 310 miles and will be able to go from 0-62 MPH in just 3.5 seconds.
Beyond the Taycan, Blume confirmed that 50% of Porsche’s vehicle lineup will be electric by 2025, a figure which includes all-electric and plug-in hybrids.
As a final note, it’s worth mentioning that a good deal of interest in the Taycan is coming from current Tesla owners. Commenting on the matter a few months ago, Porsche Cars North America CEO Klaus Zellmer explained:
More than half of the people that are signing up for the Taycan have not owned or do not own a Porsche. Typically, if we look at our source of business, people coming from other brands, it’s Audi, BMW, or Mercedes. The no. 1 brand now is Tesla. That’s pretty interesting, to see that people that were curious about the Tesla for very good reasons obviously don’t stop being curious.
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