Porsche Taycan will drive like a 911, fewer than 10,000 units this year, says CEO

Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says that the Taycan, the German automaker’s first all-electric car, will “drive like the 911”.

Blume also revealed a few more details about the Taycan in a new interview.

In an interview with Handelsblatt, Blume was asked if he thinks people will even talk about Tesla after they release the Taycan in September.

The CEO didn’t really answer (translated from German):

“To be honest, we have not contemplated this.”

But he did continue by explaining that they have a different approach than Tesla and he even said that they plan for the Taycan to “drive like the 911”:

“I have absolute respect for the courage of Elon Musk and also for his innovation and pioneering spirit. I like that. The pioneering spirit is a characteristic that also shapes us at Porsche. However, Tesla has taken a different approach in many places. When we set up a new Porsche, we always set the standard for ourselves: the Taycan has to drive like the 911.”

Porsche has previously mentioned that unlike Tesla’s performance vehicles, the Taycan is going to be able to maintain continuous higher power output for long periods of time.

The CEO said about his recent test of the Porsche Taycan:

“I was recently on our racetrack in Italy. And I’m still excited. We have the advantage in electric mobility that we have a lower center of gravity with the battery than the 911. That means: The vehicle is even more saturated on the road. In addition, we regulate five times faster than a combustion engine, have no clutch and no cardan shaft. This, together with our chassis know-how, brings a huge advantage, especially in the driving dynamics in the bends. In addition, unlike other vehicles on the market, we have a gearbox that delivers even more thrust from 150 kilometers per hour.”

Blume also talked about the production of the new electric car, which is expected to start in September when they launch the production version.

He said that the annual production will exceed 20,000 units, but they will deliver less than 10,000 units this year:

“The annual production will be well over 20,000. But we do not have a number yet. This year, we start slowly with less than 10,000 units.”

Recently, we have heard numbers as high as 40,000 units per year thrown around about Porsche’s planned Taycan production.

Electrek’s Take

I am very excited to see what Porsche does with its first entry in the all-electric space.

The automaker is known for its driving dynamics and as an EV enthusiast, I’m already very familiar with the advantages of an all-electric powertrain.

I am curious to see what Porsche can do with those advantages and how far their existing expertise can push them.

As for the production, it would be impressive if Porsche can deliver 5,000 units in the fourth quarter.

For the longer term, I don’t see a lot of problems to deliver more than 20,000 units per year.

Based on the specs we know so far, the Taycan is extremely competitive with Tesla’s Model S, which I think is going to be its biggest electric competition.

However, we expect that Tesla is going to release a new version of the Model S by the end of the year and things could get more difficult for Porsche.

Either way, I think competition is heating up and that’s good for the entire industry.