2020 Porsche Taycan set to be revealed September

Porsche has uncovered details of its breakthrough electric sportscar, the Taycan, conducting final testing months out from its anticipated debut.

The German car-maker is set to reveal its new electric flagship in the days before the Frankfurt motor show, carsales.com.au understands.

Until then, Porsche says it has now entered the final stage of testing, conducting ride and dynamics testing in Scandinavia, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, along with summer testing in South Africa and Dubai.

“After carrying out computer simulations and comprehensive bench tests early on, we have now reached the final phase of this demanding testing programme,” said the vice president of the model line, Stefan Weckbach.

“Before the Taycan is launched on the market at the end of the year, we will have covered approximately six million kilometres across the globe. We are already very happy with the current status of the vehicles. The Taycan is going to be a true Porsche.”

While there has been plenty of mystery surrounding the final appearance, driveline specification and details of the Taycan, that hasn’t stopped prospective customers from expressing their interest.

Internationally, Porsche says there are more than 20,000 prospective customers, and in Australia, expressions of interest are thought to be in the hundreds – sight unseen.

Porsche Cars Australia head of public relations, Chris Jordan, says that while there has been no deposits exchanged, preliminary interest in the Taycan is strong. The ‘EOI’ process for Porsche Cars Australia has been active since early 2018.

“We’ve had lots of interest in the car, to the point where we’re looking at how many cars we’ll receive in year one of production versus the expressions of interest that we’ve had,” Jordan said.

“It’s extremely positive given the car has not even been unveiled yet. It’s been nice to see a combination of really keen EV enthusiasts visiting a Porsche dealer for the first time, but also a lot of existing Porsche customers keen on getting the first electric Porsche sports car.

“You can argue we haven’t seen the true demand for the car just yet. We haven’t’ really gone to market with the fact you can put in an expression of interest.”

The 450kW Porsche Taycan is set to land in Australia around mid-2020.

Originally previewed by the Mission E concept, the Porsche Taycan sedan will also be accompanied by a higher-riding wagon inspired by the Mission E Cross Turismo concept.

Claimed to be capable of sprinting to 100km/h in less than 3.5 seconds, the plug-in Porsche has been created to rule the battery-powered sports sedan class for handling. The Taycan’s centre-of-gravity is 80mm lower than the 911’s.

Despite featuring all-wheel drive, Porsche engineers have developed the Taycan to feel like a rear-drive vehicle to make it a better, more engaging car to steer.

Shorter than it looks in photos, the Taycan measures in at 4850mm long and 1990mm wide, making it almost 200mm shorter than the Panamera but 53mm wider.

The Model S is longer but narrower than its new German opposition.

Based on the all-new J1 architecture developed by Porsche, the zero-emission sedan is built from high-strength steel, carbon-fibre and aluminium to ensure its underpinnings are rigid but lightweight in order to offset the mass of its heavy batteries.