Porsche’s cut-price rear-drive EV to be top-seller despite delivery delays
The admission price for Porsche’s first electric car has dropped by almost $40,000 with the release of the more affordable new entry-level, rear-wheel drive 2022 Porsche Taycan RWD ($156,300 plus on-road costs), but if you want one you’ll have to queue up.
Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) has confirmed to carsales that if customers place an order for the new single-motor, rear-drive Taycan today (March 28), they can expect to receive it between October and December – and buyers of Taycan AWD variants face even longer waiting times.
Despite the long spell between orders and deliveries, which are now commonplace for almost every new car brand in Australia, Porsche expects the new sub-$160K EV to be its equal-best-selling Taycan alongside Taycan 4S AWD model, which is priced at $194,700 plus ORCs – a solid $38,400 more than the base grade car.
“The market will largely dictate which Taycan will be the best-seller, as well as supply, but we’d expect sales to be similar to Taycan 4S from this point on. We think those two will be the bulk of the Taycan sales,” PCA’s head of PR, Chris Jordan, told carsales.
It’s understood those two model grades could account for up to 80 per cent of all Taycan sales in Australia, but Jordan said Taycan 4S customers face lengthier delivery delays.
“For the AWD Taycan models it [delivery] is likely 2023, but given the order bank for the entry-level models only opened relatively recently, you can expect them to arrive from around the fourth quarter this year,” he said.
As global supply chains continue to falter, in-demand vehicles – and most notably EVs – are becoming hard to come by in the short-term, and there’s no sign of a return to pre-COVID delivery times any time soon.
“The supply situation changes all the time. With the current turbulent events around the world, lack of semi-conductors, supply of other materials, the Ukraine situation – we literally get supply updates every week now, so I urge people to speak to their nearest Porsche centre because the situation differs all the time.
“On a lot of Porsche models the estimated delivery time is now 2023. Availability on Macan and Cayenne is a little better. It’s a challenging time,” stated the Porsche exec.
The $156,300 Porsche Taycan is the first single-motor, rear-drive version of the German car-maker’s mould-breaking EV and comes standard with 19-inch alloy wheels, 14-way power-adjustable seats and three LED screens in the cockpit, including a curved 16.8-inch digital driver’s display.
Porsche’s sleek new four-door electric sports sedan was the brand’s best-selling passenger car globally and locally in 2021, outselling all models except the hallowed sports car brand’s ubiquitous SUVs.
In 2021, Porsche sold 41,296 Taycans globally, outpacing the 911’s 38,464 sales. In Australia 531 Taycans were registered in 2021 and in the first couple of months of 2022 Taycan sales are up by another third, showing continued strong demand.
“We’ve had a good start in 2021 with Taycan, but we’ve got a lot of focus on year two with Taycan,” said Jordan
“The interest, the demand, the order bank suggests things should continue in the right way. Obviously adding the entry-level variants with both the Taycan RWD sedan, and the Taycan 4 Cross Turismo, as well as the Taycan GTS sedan in around May will help maintain buyer interest.
“We entered a segment we weren’t in previously so Taycan was a big focus for many reasons but obviously being our first all-electric sports car is super important, given where the company’s headed over the next eight years or so,” he said, pointing to Porsche’s promise of an 80 per cent fully-electric line-up by 2030.
Rivals for the new circa-$160,000 Porsche Taycan are few and far between but may include the Audi e-tron GT priced from $181,700 and the Tesla Model S, which previously started at $129,990 but remains unavailable to order in Australia until stocks of the upgraded MY22 are confirmed.
How much does the 2022 Porsche Taycan cost?RWD – $156,3004S AWD – $194,700GTS AWD – $237,000Turbo AWD – $276,300
Turbo S AWD – $345,800
How much does the 2022 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo cost?4 – $176,6004S – $205,300Turbo – $279,000
* All prices exclude on-road costs
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Keyword: Big demand for new entry-level Porsche Taycan