Exclusive: Kiwis can’t get enough of Porsche’s EV
The Taycan sedan was the star of recent Leadfoot festival
Porsche New Zealand used the recent Leadfoot festival to highlight its Taycan electric vehicle, and used two of the brand’s famous ambassadors to showcase it to the public.
Porsche NZ borrowed a Taycan from Singapore for the two-day event at Leadfoot festival in Hahei and invited existing customers to spend time watching the famous motor sport event and admire the electric sedan.
The Leadfoot festival is held at New Zealand rally champion Rod Millen and his wife Shelly Millen’s Hahei “ranch” where invited drivers race an eclectic array of vehicles, and motorsport cars, up the famous drive that features a number of replica corners from Rod’s international rally career.
“Late last year, Porsche NZ said it had an ‘unprecedented number of deposits paid’ for its fully electric Taycan.”
During the lunch break on Saturday, Porsche NZ invited the brand’s international driver, and Kiwi, Earl Bamber to race the Taycan up the drive. On Sunday, Formula One driver, and brand ambassador, Mark Webber, was behind the wheel of the Taycan during the lunch break.
Both drivers were impressed with the performance of the Taycan. But for Porsche NZ general manager, Greg Clarke, festival participants were also impressed with the Taycan.
Late last year, Porsche NZ said it had an “unprecedented number of deposits paid” for its fully electric Taycan.
But at Leadfoot, Clarke told AutoMuse that seeing the Taycan in the metal had attracted more customers.
“We’ll have three Taycan in New Zealand by the end of March to show customers and we expect production for New Zealand orders to start at the Porsche factory by June or July,” Clark told AutoMuse.
The four-door coupe is to be revealed on September 4, 2019 at three simultaneous events in Germany, China and Canada before its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show.
Globally, there have been more than 30,000 pre-orders of the Taycan, so the German premium carmaker has announced it will double its first year’s production run to 40,000.
Porsche NZ said late last year that “our official Porsche centres are currently holding an unprecedented number of deposit paid ‘Expressions of Interest’ for the Taycan”.
“We anticipate these will start to translate into vehicle orders once detailed product information is available and customers are able to experience the Taycan first hand.”
Internationally, the Taycan has been on tour across China, the UK and in New York, with the brand saying if the pre-orders convert to deals it would beat sales of Porsche’s more iconic models such as the 718 Boxster and the 911, which sold 24,750 and 35,573 units respectively in 2018.
It could also mean it becomes a serious contender against EV pioneer Tesla’s flagship premium electric vehicle, the Model S.
Porsche is expected to release three versions of the Taycan, with a base model rear-wheel drive with an 80kWh battery with two choices of motors (240kW or 280kW).
In the mid-range will be the “Carrera 4S” with a 96kWh battery, all-wheel drive and a choice of either 320kW or 360kW motors.
The top-of-the-range Taycan, dubbed the “Turbo” according to the UK’s Car Magazine, will have the same size battery as the mid-range mode, but offer 440kW of power and 880Nm of torque, and able to deliver 1000Nm bursts for 10-second periods.
It is also understood that the range of the Turbo model will be up to 515km,
Porsche says the Taycan will be much quicker to recharge as it can use a 350kW fast-charging system, meaning a full battery charge in less than 20 minutes
