Porsche Taycan debuts: 761 PS and 1,050 Nm, needs only 2-Speed transmission

• Two variants – Turbo and Turbo S
• Up to 761 PS (with overboost) and 1,050 Nm
• Top speed of 260 km/h, 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds
• Driving range up to 412 km
• Requires only a 2-speed automatic transmission
• Coming to Malaysia in 2020

Nearly five years in the making, Porsche has finally launched the Taycan, the company’s first battery electric vehicle (BEV) sports sedan. Apart from minor details, the production Porsche Taycan managed to retain much of the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show's Mission E concept car’s design, which previewed the Taycan.

The four-door Porsche Taycan is a four-seater but it can also be ordered with a 4+1 seating configuration, just like the Panamera. However unlike the Panamera, the Taycan doesn't have an opening rear hatch. Instead the boot lid opens like a regular sedan.

If you want a hatch, there's the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo (already previewed as the Mission E Cross Turismo), which will be launched at the end of 2020. In the same way the Porsche Taycan is analogous to the Panamera, the Taycan Cross Turismo is analogous to the Panamera Sport Turismo. 

For now, the Porsche Taycan is only available in two variants – Turbo and Turbo S, both all-wheel drive with one motor installed on each axle.

Unlike regular combustion engine cars, the high torque characteristic of electric motors means that a regular gearbox is redundant since there is little need for torque multiplication. As such, the Taycan requires only two forward ratios in its rear-mounted transmission, automatic of course.

Also, since the Taycan looks like a Panamera but doesn’t have any engine, it has two boots like a Tesla Model S. The front luggage compartment (some call it ‘frunk,’ for front trunk) fits 81 litres while the rear fits 366 litres.

Inside, the Taycan’s cabin is mostly trimmed in recycled materials and the standard car features a leather-free interior, trimmed only in high grade fabric. On any other car brand, such cabin would be perceived as cheap but since this is a Porsche, leather-free interior suddenly becomes a positive thing. Leather upholstery is still available as an option.

The 800V electrical system – the first for any production electric car – is double that of regular BEVs, is powered by a floor-mounted 93.4 kWh battery supplied by German manufacturer Dräxlmaier Group.

It accepts up to 11 kW of AC charging, which will take at least five to seven hours for a full charge but with ultra-high powered DC charging (rare but there's one at ABB's office in Subang Jaya), it is possible to charge the car from five percent to 80 percent in just a little over 22 minutes.

Sime Darby Auto Performance (SDAP), the authorized importer of Porsche vehicles in Malaysia, has already confirmed that the Taycan will be launched in Malaysia in 2020.

Construction of the company’s new headquarters in Ara Damansara is underway and when completed next year (estimated Q3), the six-storey facility's 23-bay service centre will also serve as SDAP’s competency centre for electrified Porsches (BEVs and hybrids included).

It’s too early to speculate on Taycan’s price in Malaysia our current excise and import duty structure is based on the combustion engine’s capacity. Calculation of tax bracket for electric vehicles is currently done on a case-by-case basis, using an equivalency formula.