Porsche New Zealand has an “unprecedented number of deposits paid” for its fully electric Taycan that arrives here next year.
The four-door coupe is to be revealed on September 4 at three simultaneous events in Germany, China and Canada before its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show.
Globally, there have been 30,000 pre-orders of the Taycan, so the German premium carmaker has announced it will double its first year’s production run to 40,000.
Porsche New Zealand says “our official Porsche centres are currently holding an unprecedented number of deposit paid ‘Expressions of Interest’ for the Taycan”.
“We anticipate these will start to translate into vehicle orders once detailed product information is available and customers are able to experience the Taycan first hand.”
Porsche NZ will have three Taycans in New Zealand in the first quarter of 2020 for launch events and demonstration, with customer deliveries anticipated to start in the third quarter of 2020, it says.
Internationally, the Taycan has been on tour across China, the UK and in New York, with the brand saying if the pre-orders convert to deals it would beat sales of Porsche’s more iconic models such as the 718 Boxster and the 911, which sold 24,750 and 35,573 units respectively in 2018.
It could also mean it becomes a serious contender against EV pioneer Tesla’s flagship premium electric vehicle, the Model S.
Porsche is expected to release three versions of the Taycan, with a base model rear-wheel drive with an 80kWh battery with two choices of motors (240kW or 280kW).
In the mid-range will be the “Carrera 4S” with a 96kWh battery, all-wheel drive and a choice of either 320kW or 360kW motors.
The top-of-the-range Taycan, dubbed the “Turbo” according to the UK’s Car Magazine, will have the same size battery as the mid-range mode, but offer 440kW of power and 880Nm of torque, and able to deliver 1000Nm bursts for 10-second periods.
It is also understood that the range of the Turbo model will be up to 515km,
Porsche says the Taycan will be much quicker to recharge as it can use a 350kW fast-charging system, meaning a full battery charge in less than 20 minutes.