Photo: SB-Medien
With the Porsche Taycan set to kick off Zuffenhausen electric revolution this September, we can now talk about the greater electrification plan the carmaker is working on, which also includes the next-gen Cayman and Boxster models.
The idea of the German carmaker's next-gen mid-engined sportscar being part of the electron juice sipping plan is not net, but CEO Oliver Blume has told autocar that the engineers are building a hybrid prototype alongside the electric test cars that are already doing their job (note that the prototypes portrayed above aren't neccesarily the models discussed here, as we have no certainties towards their powertrain).
“We have prototypes of the 718 running in electric now, and a hybrid prototype is being built,” he said. “If you look to the next generation of those cars it is possible, although it is not yet clear whether it would be plug-in hybrid or hybrid,” the head honco told the British magazine.
The idea would be to offer the current cars with a hybrid setup alongside the next-gen models that would run solely on electric power.
And with the 992-gen 911 having already been confirmed to receive a hybrid version, the electric part of the hardware will already be there. Of course, while the Neunelfer will mix electric power with a flat-six, the Cayman and Boxster will retain the turbo-four architecture of the current 718 generation.
The same scheme of mixing a current generation animated by new hybrid powertrains with an all-new model powered by electricity alone (this would be based on the carmaker's PPE EV platform) will be used for the Macan - keep in mind that the crossover is the carmaker's volume seller, so this is important.
Porsche's CEO reiterated the idea that the scheme involving the two types of propulsion would only be maintained for a few years. Eventually, the company will choose a single direction for most of its models and stick to it.
"For at least two to three years we will have both [power solutions]. At that point, we can decide whether to upgrade the combustion engines to the new Euro 7 standard or go full electric. The pace that countries are changing is different – China wants electric now, Russia is in less of a hurry, for instance,” the CEO told autocar.
Porsche had previously stated at at least half of its models would go EV from 2025 (the 911 obviously sits outside such plans) and it looks like the carmaker is making steps towards achieving that goal.
“We have prototypes of the 718 running in electric now, and a hybrid prototype is being built,” he said. “If you look to the next generation of those cars it is possible, although it is not yet clear whether it would be plug-in hybrid or hybrid,” the head honco told the British magazine.
The idea would be to offer the current cars with a hybrid setup alongside the next-gen models that would run solely on electric power.
And with the 992-gen 911 having already been confirmed to receive a hybrid version, the electric part of the hardware will already be there. Of course, while the Neunelfer will mix electric power with a flat-six, the Cayman and Boxster will retain the turbo-four architecture of the current 718 generation.
The same scheme of mixing a current generation animated by new hybrid powertrains with an all-new model powered by electricity alone (this would be based on the carmaker's PPE EV platform) will be used for the Macan - keep in mind that the crossover is the carmaker's volume seller, so this is important.
Porsche's CEO reiterated the idea that the scheme involving the two types of propulsion would only be maintained for a few years. Eventually, the company will choose a single direction for most of its models and stick to it.
"For at least two to three years we will have both [power solutions]. At that point, we can decide whether to upgrade the combustion engines to the new Euro 7 standard or go full electric. The pace that countries are changing is different – China wants electric now, Russia is in less of a hurry, for instance,” the CEO told autocar.
Porsche had previously stated at at least half of its models would go EV from 2025 (the 911 obviously sits outside such plans) and it looks like the carmaker is making steps towards achieving that goal.
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