Taycan

Make
Porsche
Segment
Sedan

The pure-electric Porsche Taycan sports sedan has already amassed some 30,000 preorders in Europe since its unveiling in early September, far surpassing Porsche's expectations. The car represents Porsche's first-ever battery-electric production vehicle, powered by a pair of electric motors - one for each axle - that draw their power from either a 79.2-kWh or a 93-kWh battery pack.

Demonstrating an unyielding commitment to performance, the Porsche Taycan took on the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife road course prior to its reveal, posting an impressive lap time of 7 minutes, 42 seconds - a record for production four-door electric vehicles. That's ignited a bit of a Tesla-Porsche performance rivalry, as Tesla has set out to prove that it produces the world's quickest volume production EVs.

According to Reuters, all 30,000 Porsche Taycan customers have made downpayments of at least €2,500 - about $2,800 USD - and 10,000 of them have submitted a firm order for the car. The battery-electric sports sedan starts shipping to US dealers this month, with other markets to follow shortly.

In the US market, early signs point to the Porsche Taycan posing a legitimate threat to Tesla Motors. Porsche's President and CEO in North America, Klaus Zellmer, revealed this month that Tesla owners represented the greatest share of non-Porsche owners to express an interest in purchasing the Taycan. At present, about half of the interested customers in the US are current Porsche owners.

In all, Porsche plans to ship some 20,000 Taycans in 2020, meaning that were everyone who has put in a preorder to follow through and buy, the car would be sold out for its first year.

The Taycan will come in four different flavors, at least initially: Taycan Turbo, Taycan Turbo S, and two versions of the more basic Taycan 4S - one with the Performance Battery Plus, and one without. Those four models will deliver peak power outputs ranging from 523 to 751 horsepower. Pricing starts at $105,550 in the US.