Porsche's Klaus Zellmer on the Brand Going Electric
With the Taycan, Gran Turismo Crossover and other hybrid models, Porsche will redefine what a sports car can be in the coming years. Zellmer spoke recently with Automotive News about various topics ranging from customer interest to the crazy high initial investment into EV development.
It's the road to the future
By 2025 Porsche, the automaker that has been a staple on bedroom walls of budding auto enthusiasts for decades expects that almost half of all new vehicles will be either fully electric or plug-in hybrid. The following will contain excerpts from the interview with the link to the full interview at the end.
"Everybody expects Porsche to enter the battery-electric vehicle market with something that is truly Porsche," said Klaus Zellmer, Porsche Cars North America CEO. "It has to behave like a real sports car. That's what people expect, and that's what we are trying to then match, or exceed."
Please Porsche, make the Taycan look like the prototype
What kind of demand is Porsche seeing for the Taycan?
"Based on the global demand, we are likely to look at 40,000 of production capacity in Zuffenhausen. We have a depositor program, so we have people who show sincere interest. If we can convert that initial interest into real sales, then we don't have to worry about the first one to two years of selling that car here in the States."
Crossovers are very hot in the market
Electrification is coming to Porsche's crossovers, with the Macan being the first to go battery-electric. Why is that vehicle a good fit for an electric powertrain?
"The Macan is already the sports car of the compact premium crossover segment, and an electric powertrain suits those characteristics with high efficiency and punchy performance. We're not just filling the current car with batteries, either.
The fully electric Macan will be based on the Premium Platform Electric or PPE, so it's designed as a battery-electric vehicle from the ground up. That allows us to maximize the benefits of a purely electric vehicle when it comes to packaging, wheelbase, and space, for instance.'
It's all a numbers game
How will expensive EV development affect Porsche's sacred 15 percent margin?
"Our business model is designed to keep that 15 percent promise. We all know that battery-electric vehicles and the technology, especially with the battery costs, is currently a burden. If you go into 2022, you are going to see some scale effect in the battery costs. There's a lot of cost reduction potential if you don't have any exhaust system if you don't have any water cooling system. There are so many things you can leave out."
When is a Porsche not a Porsche?
Would North American customers accept a Porsche built outside Europe?
"Made in Germany" is an important label to Porsche fans and customers worldwide, no doubt about that. Would people buy a Porsche that is "Made in America"? Who knows. It remains hypothetical since we don't have any production plans in the U.S. First and foremost, that's a question of volume. It simply wouldn't make sense when only three of every 1,000 vehicles on the road are Porsches. We always aim to produce one car less than the market demands and that has proven to be a good approach."
To read the entirety of the interview with Zellmer expounding further on various things related to how the will be changing for the future, just click here.
For help with keeping your Porsche in racing, trim see the how-to sections of RennList.com.