Demand for Porsche’s Taycan outpaces production

For new-vehicle shoppers who have their eye on Porsche’s newest model — the all-electric Taycan — the sports car maker has a message: Be patient. Porsche estimates a 6-to 9-month wait for Taycan deliveries. Geopolitics and the pandemic conspired to kneecap Taycan sales last year. Porsche delivered 34,801 units in 2022, down 16 percent from the previous year. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine halted Taycan production for “several weeks” last year, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said Monday.

“One hundred percent of all wire harnesses for the Taycan came from Ukraine,” Blume said on a media call following the company’s 2022 earnings report Monday.

COVID-related shutdowns in China — a major source of semiconductors — also gummed up Taycan deliveries last year. But Porsche said it’s working around the supply bottlenecks and expects to deliver at least 40,000 Taycans globally this year.

“We have a very strong order bank, very strong order intake at this point,” Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke said on the call. “But we have to manage the supply chain shortages.”

The Taycan “Sport Turismo” offers a very functional hatchback.

Pleasing the United States and China

At they attempt to free up more production, Porsche executives also teased the brand’s next all-new model — a new full-size SUV, codenamed K1, that will slot above the Porsche Cayenne. Blume said the bigger model is “focused on the markets where our customers love to drive big cars.”

Dealer sources first told Automotive News about Porsche’s plans for the crossover in 2021, saying the vehicle should arrive in the second half of the decade and would offer three rows of seating — a first for a Porsche.

“It’s very focused on the North American market and China,” Blume said.

While the large crossover will be a new model, it will carry the familiar Porsche DNA. Blume called the K1 a “new approach for Porsche, combined with traditional values.”

Many Porsche enthusiasts question whether a 3-row EV can still be a Porsche at heart.

Will the K1 be a Porsche?

It “offers a very luxurious experience for our customers, but with a 100 percent Porsche touch and feel, with Porsche sportiness … and design aspects,” he said.

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The K1 will use Volkswagen Group’s SSP Sport platform, which Porsche is developing.

The model will incorporate technology from the Mission R concept presented in 2021 at the IAA in Munich, Porsche said. K1 will include the direct oil-cooled electric motor in the Mission R and a new high-performance battery with a 920-volt electrical system to reduce charging times. Blume said the new vehicle will be typical for Porsche, with “impressive performance, automated driving functions, and a new interior experience.”

The new SUV is key to Porsche’s ambitions of delivering about 80 percent of its new vehicles as full-electric models in 2030.