Porsche considering canning diesel for pure-electric

Porsche has confirmed its diesel engines could be ditched as soon as the end of this decade in favour of pure-electric vehicles.

Speaking to Reuters, Porsche CEO, Mr Oliver Blume, admitted the famous German sports car brand was considering dropping diesels.

"Of course, we are looking into this issue", said Mr Blume during an event at its motorsport base at the Nurburgring circuit. "We have not made a decision on it".

According to the newswire, Blume went on to say, for now, combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and pure-electric vehicles would be offered, but revealed company chiefs had imposed a deadline of the end of this decade to decide whether diesel has a future at Porsche.

Porsche only introduced its first (modern) diesel-powered car - a Cayenne - back in 2009.

Since then, sales of the diesel-powered large SUV, as well as diesel versions of the mid-size Macan SUV and four-door Panamera sedan have been lucrative. In fact, last year, diesel-powered vehicles claimed more than 15 per cent of global Porsche sales.

No doubt Mr Blume's enthusiasm for walking away from diesel is being fuelled by the numerous European cities which are actively pursuing plans to ban diesel vehicles outright and the widespread shift to electric vehicles on the agenda in China and other Asian markets.

Porsche is also entwined in Volkswagen Group's Dieselgate saga - am massive headache which just won't go away.

Last month German prosecutors announced they had begun investigating Porsche to check if it had any involvement in the emissions scandal. Regulators are also examining the Cayenne model to see if it had the 'defeat device' fitted.

Mr Blume advised the potential transition to pure-electric vehicles will be helped by the billion Euros ($A1.5 billion) Porsche has already spent overhauling its Stuttgart factory in anticipation of its first pure-electric car - the Mission E sedan which is due in 2019.

Porsche's CEO told Reuters that by 2025 he estimated up to a quarter of Porsche sales would be vehicles powered by pure-electric powertrains and all will be profitable cars for the brand.

He added cooperation with Volkswagen Group-owned sister brand, Audi, had already delivered "significant savings" in the development of its future electric-car program.

Mr Blume claims those savings include sharing the costs of an all-new electric car architecture, components and modules.

On the back of this investment, the CEO said he was confident Porsche's industry-leading 15 per cent return on vehicles would expand to pure-electric models and revealed further cooperation for new platforms, including one to underpin an SUV, was "conceivable".

Mr Blume also told the newswire Porsche was already considering spinning off another model from the Mission E platform and a pure-electric version of the best-selling Macan SUV was also possible.

The plans to introduce a raft of new pure-electric vehicle come at a time of decent growth for the German brand.

Last year Porsche sold 238,000 cars and expects annual sales increases of five per cent per year until 2025.