2020 Porsche Taycan - Pre-Production Tests

The Taycan is absolutely unique in terms of its proportions. Usually, purely electric vehicles are higher than their conventionally powered counterparts because the relatively heavy and large batteries are positioned in the floor of the vehicle while the occupants sit above them. We were not willing to accept this. However, you can’t just install the batteries in a different place – for reasons relating to driving dynamics alone – as the centre of gravity must be as low as possible. Because you also can’t just make the vehicle wider, the specific challenge was to position the passengers as low as possible without them having to assume a reclined position like in a Formula 1 racing car. We solved this with so-called “foot garages”. They enable a comfortable sitting position even in conjunction with the sporty vehicle height. In retrospect we can say that this so-called package was the greatest challenge. How high can the vehicle be? How long and how wide should it be, how horizontal or upright will the passengers sit? That’s what’s typically Porsche to me – this striving to find the ideal solution.

Porsche’s first purely electrically driven sports car, the #Taycan, is currently completing its final test drives before it enters series production.

How early were you involved in development?

From the outset. That’s the most important prerequisite for a design strategy. In the past, the package would have frequently already been defined when we joined the project. Consequently, a fundamental design decision had already been made at this point. In this context, I always like to explain our process, which essentially consists of three steps: proportions, styling and details. The proportions are elementary. If they are not right, you can’t really do much retrospectively with styling and details.

Was it clear from the beginning which direction development was going to take?

We had many discussions, particularly about the package. At times, we also considered launching into e-mobility with an SUV, but ultimately we made the decision to take this important step for Porsche with a sports car in order to make a clear statement. The question was how clearly do you indicate that this is the dawn of the new, purely electric era? Does this mean we have to change everything?