PORSCHE: Aiming Sky High
Since it first arrived with customers in December 2019, the Taycan is thriving in the United States, supported by a rapidly expanding network of fast and convenient chargers. The Taycan range has already diversified to comprise eight different models.
In the Spring of 1969 young engineers around the world, freed of constraints and vying for national prestige were pushing boundaries at a breathless pace. Bold decisions were made, risks taken and records fell; the scale and scope of innovation were relentless and remarkable.
On a cold February morning in Everett, near Seattle, the largest passenger aircraft ever designed – the gargantuan Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo' jet – took to the air for the first time. In Toulouse, France, just a month later, a new aircraft called Concorde, capable of carrying over 100 passengers in total luxury at twice the speed of sound – was tested for the first time. Meanwhile, in May of the same year the most powerful machine ever developed even to this day – the mighty Saturn V rocket – that would carry Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon – rolled out to Launchpad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, leading to one small step for mankind being taken just two months later.
At the same time, and several thousand miles away, Porsche was steeling itself to take a giant leap of its own. The fledgling sports car manufacturer was frantically developing and preparing the required 25 cars to enter the very highest level of endurance racing with a car that represented an enormous undertaking for a company so small and so young.
The car was the Porsche 917 – the most advanced and ambitious car of its kind at the time – built with passion and ambition, aiming sky high. Workers were drawn in from across the business to help – vacations were cancelled, evenings and weekends blurred into one, as the company collectively pulled together to make the seemingly impossible happen. Fortune
favored the brave – with the 917 going on to write its own chapter in racing history.
Half a century later, the same spirit of creativity and willingness to take a giant leap was not just alive and well, but thriving in the Weissach home of Porsche's engineering and design operations as, in the fall of 2019 the Taycan – Porsche's first electric sports car – was shown for the first time in its finished form. It harnessed the lessons learned on the road with the incredible 918 Spyder hybrid supercar and on the track, with the three-time Le Mans winning 919 Hybrid endurance racer. Translating this into the Taycan was a staggering undertaking and the result of a team effort that saw not only the creation of a brand new electric car that set out to establish new benchmarks right out of the box, but one the necessitated a design and development program unlike any other. A whole new €700M, 1,800,000 m3, carbon neutral factory was built specifically for this purpose – requiring a vast construction project within the confines of a city. This effort came to spectacular fruition when the first Taycans arrived with customers in December 2019.
Millions of electric miles later, the Taycan is thriving in the U.S., supported by a rapidly expanding network of fast and convenient chargers. The Taycan range has diversified – with eight different models – from the rear-wheel drive Taycan priced at $82,700 (MSRP – excludes options; taxes; title; registration; delivery, processing and handling fee) right up to the exciting and versatile new Taycan Cross Turismo. And while many elements of the Taycan are completely new – the spirit, the defining attributes that make a Porsche a Porsche, are abundant. It's a sports car, from the ground up. Whether on a demanding road or simply cruising on a freeway, whether it's being asked to set a new lap record around a race track, or to take you and your family on a road trip, the Taycan is equally at home.
The era of giant leaps that took hold in the 1960s might have grabbed the headlines, but that spirit of adventure and curiosity and innovation hasn't gone anywhere. It just takes different – and often digital – forms. And the same is true of Porsche. We never sit still for long, and we're always asking ourselves ‘what's next?' We're proud and excited that the boldest steps are yet to come. It's going to be fascinating to share our electrified future with you. Rest assured, we're giving it our all, and aiming sky high.