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Porsche Wants Nothing to Do With Artemis Project, Pays VW to Step Out

Porsche customers range from those buying a Macan to those with more than one 911 in their garages. Yet, the company knows they all have one thing in common: these folks like to drive. This would be why Porsche decided against being part of the Artemis project, which will push autonomous driving tech further in the VW Group.
Porsche does not want to use the SSP, goes with an improved PPE for the K1 project 14 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
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Porsche was going to produce its new electric flagship in Hanover. The plant will manufacture the Audi cars based on the SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) that the Artemis project is developing. Bentley will also have one electric model based on it.

According to Automobilwoche, Porsche will pay Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles about €100 million ($113.65 million at the current exchange rate) to opt out of the deal. That money will be compensation for the production of fewer units of the SSP vehicles and the investments that were made to include Porsche in the agreement. The Hanover plant predicted it would produce 25,000 units per year of the now-aborted electric Porsche.

Instead of its SSP product, the German carmaker decided that its electric flagship – codenamed K1 – would use an improved version of the PPE (Premium Platform Electric). That’s the same architecture that underpins the Taycan and the Taycan Cross Turismo. This new vehicle will be made in Leipzig in 2026.

The Artemis project would focus not only on autonomous driving capabilities but also on energy efficiency. Volkswagen calls its version of that idea the Project Trinity and says it will give birth to a flat vehicle, meaning it will be low and long to achieve a smaller frontal area and better aerodynamics. This is not something Porsche or its customers would care about unless it helped performance.

Porsche cannot escape the need to produce a more efficient car with the current battery technology. However, the Volkswagen group is a close partner to QuantumScape, a solid-state battery startup that seems to be pretty confident with what it has achieved. Porsche must know a thing or two about that to prefer not to take part in the effort to create a more efficient car. By 2026, it may have a battery pack that does not make that as pressing as it is today.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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