Good Oil: Turns out Porsche is really, really serious about the Taycan EV

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Photos / Supplied

Photos / Supplied

The forthcoming Taycan electric car is very much the future of the brand, says Porsche. It even expects the electric-only GT to outsell the mighty 911.
Since initially releasing plans, Porsche has already doubled its annual production forecast for the car from 20,000 units to 40,000. And remember, this is still a year before the first Taycans are delivered to customers.
It appears that heady combination of a stylish EV poster child with a Porsche badge on the bonnet should prove car-shaped catnip to early-adopters.
For buyers in the American market, the Stuttgart-headquartered company has also announced that it will give Taycan buyers three years of free 30-minute charging sessions at all Electrify America charging stations throughout the continent, which is a nice carrot to dangle. The US network currently has 300 stations in 42 states and will gain more as the showroom debut of the Taycan approaches towards the end of this year.
Before you sneer at the idea of a simple 30-minute charge, that’s more than enough to return the Taycan’s batteries to full. In fact, fast-charging is a big part of the luxury fastback’s sell, with the company alleging that a 60-mile (96km) range can be eked out of the car’s battery after an impressively short four-minute charge on an appropriate fast-charger.
Quick stop, then back to fanging, then. We look forward to seeing a Taycan in the metal in New Zealand. But probably not until next year.

Tesla’s retro arcade update coming soon

Now then. Whoever said Tesla doesn’t have a sense of humour has clearly got it wrong.
Unbelievably, or perhaps completely believably, Tesla is pushing out a new software update to its cars that includes more classic Atari games. This time, it’s Super Breakout and 2048.
The update is being pushed to cars already, but might take a few weeks to reach everybody. The games are free to play, and will land in Model S, Model X and — for the 12 people that have theirs already — Model 3 in-car touchscreens.  You have to admire Tesla’s nerve with this sort of thing. We completely love the fact that it simply ignores all the dramatic business section headlines — Elon Musk’s court cases, lengthy customer waiting lines, production delays, autonomous cars doing strange things — and focuses instead on ensuring there is an Atari-style Easter egg in every single customer’s car.
It’s not the sort of thing you’d see, say, Nissan or Mercedes-Benz doing. Now if only they could get customer cars to those customers when they initially suggested they would…   
 

Next-gen Toyota 86 is a happening thing 

Both companies behind the already legendary little 86 / BRZ — Toyota and Subaru — keep feigning disinterest in going there again. But it is looking more likely that Toyota at least will produce a second-generation 86. And, in order to do that, it will need Subaru’s help.
A new 86 will sit beneath the just-released Supra in the company’s burgeoning sports car line-up and, like the bigger coupe, will probably wear the GR Sport (Gazoo Racing) badge in some markets.
While Subaru doesn’t appear to have released any info on whether a new BRZ (itstake on the diminutive racer) is likely, it will once again assist Toyota by providing an oily lump to power the 86; a four-cylinder Boxer engine, of course.
The actual size of that engine is up for debate. While some sections of the industry grapevine suggest the same 2-litre unit is a given for the gen two car, other rumour mill sources suggest it might be a larger 2.4-litre unit that makes its way into a new 86.
Either way, expect some ‘mini me’ Supra styling to appear. A couple of renders of the new design — probably not on show in the metal until next year — suggest an aggressive Supra-style nose on the new car, banishing the simple-but-effective lines of old.
As long as it handles like the current car and features the option of that sublime Aisin six-speed manual gearbox, we’ll be happy.