Here’s how Porsche will adapt to the coming age of electric cars
If the transition from air-cooled cars to water-cooled cars was enough to cause controversy among Porsche enthusiasts, the rapidly approaching era of electric cars could bring nothing less than a schism. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine replicating the traditional Porsche experience of a manual gearbox, a clutch pedal and a tachometer in the age of one-speed transmissions and instant torque delivery, but Porsche plans to navigate this brave new world without losing sight of what made its cars legendary in the first place.
The automaker recently announced its strategy for the coming age of electric cars at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart amid celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the 356, viewed by enthusiasts as the true starting point of the Porsche legend.
“There will be a triad: plug-in hybrids, emotional sports cars with combustion engines, and sporty electric vehicles,” Porsche CEO Oliver Blume told Bloomberg. “There will always be demand for intelligent sporty mobility. At Porsche, the driving experience will always be at the forefront, but in a traffic jam or when you park a car, the driver might want to hand over control of the vehicle.”
When it comes to electric cars, Porsche will add the pure-electric Mission E to its lineup in 2019, seeking to carve out a new category for buyers, while adding electrification to the powertrain of the next-generation 911. The hybrid part of the triad is already in place in the form of the E-Hybrid versions of the Cayenne and the Panamera.
Powertrains aside, Porsche is also rapidly evolving into a much bigger automaker than it has been for most of its life. Sales in 2017 reached a record 246,000 units, with the Macan helping drive a sizable chunk of that volume. Needless to say, 246,000 is a far cry from the automaker’s output just 20 years ago, when the Porsche lineup was composed solely of coupes and cabriolets, and handmade assembly was still a major selling point.
Still, Porsche plans to “stabilize” deliveries, Bloomberg notes, to preserve the marque’s exclusivity rather than rapidly seeking even higher production volumes. The automaker apparently knows which models should be aimed at volume and which models should be aimed at the core of enthusiasts who have been with the marque for years.
“Tradition is a commitment. Without our tradition and without our core values, we would not be where we are today,” Blume said. “We plan to uphold the standard of technical excellence set by Ferry Porsche well into the future. Intelligent dynamic mobility has a great future ahead of it. And we have the solid technological expertise, creative employees and unique team spirit to be involved. We have what it takes to ensure that the Porsche brand continues to fascinate -– even in another 70 years.”
source: http://autoweek.com/article/green-cars/heres-how-porsche-will-adapt-coming-age-electric-cars#ixzz55xnHrffK
