Porsche hasn’t been too shy about its future plans of electrifying its sports car lineup, and the big news finally dropped this week. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume announced the mid-engine Porsche 718 Cayman and Boxster convertible sports cars will be electric-only when the next generation is introduced by 2025. Don’t worry, though, as the Porsche 911 lineup will keep its combustion power for now but expand with a sporty hybrid in 2025.
The Hybrid 911
The upcoming Porsche 911 hybrid will borrow tech from the motorsports division, namely the street-legal Porsche 919 hybrid that has the LMP1 Le Mans racing powertrain. Heck, even the 911 GT3 seems to be in line for a hybrid, Blume suggested, saying there is are more surprises still to come.
Color us intrigued: the Porsche 911 GT3 is the 2022 MotorTrend Performance Vehicle of the Year. More power will mean more awesomeness.
“We want to be a role model and a pioneer,” Blume told reporters during a virtual roundtable ahead of the Porsche annual news conference in Stuttgart. The automaker wants half of all new Porsche sales to be plug-in hybrids or full battery-electric vehicles by 2025.
The goal is for more than 80 percent of new vehicles to be all-electric by 2030. That final 20 percent will be a mix of holdover combustion-engine-powered vehicles, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids. In other words, if the 911 customer base still has buyers who want legacy powertrains, they won’t be denied quite yet.
More Range for Plug-in Hybrids
The Porsche Cayenne and Panamera plug-in hybrids will get greater range in EV mode, to about 50 miles per charge from about 17 now. Currently, almost 40 percent of new Porches in Europe are either plug-in hybrid or fully battery electric.
If the 2022 Porsche Taycan is any indication, Porsche buyers are along for the ride. The Taycan, Porsche’s first EV, more than doubled sales to about 42,000 last year and Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke says the EV is already profitable.
The Porsche Macan compact electric SUV is next up, sticking to the original plan to introduce it in Europe in 2023 and migrate to North America in 2024. It will use the same underpinnings as the Taycan: the PPE architecture designed by Porsche and Audi for premium electric vehicles with 800-volt fast-charging capability.
Then the 718 EV will be available in 2025. Engineers developed a configuration that is closely linked to the 911 so the electric 718 can continue to share an assembly line with the bigger sibling at the Zuffenhausen plant in Stuttgart. The sports cars are on different platforms but will share some modules, Blume says. More details on the new EV sports cars will come later. It will also be the first generation of the Cayman and Boxster offered with all-wheel drive, according to Blume.
Record Global Sales in 2021
Porsche delivered almost 302,000 vehicles globally in 2021, exceeding the 300,000 mark for the first time. SUVs continue to carry the lineup with the Macan (88,000) and Cayenne (83,000) as the top sellers. The electric Taycan more than doubled sales to about 42,000. The Porsche 911 set a new record with more than 38,000 sports cars sold.
To support them, Porsche is working on core technologies such as battery systems and module production. The Cellforce Group, a joint venture between Porsche and Customcells, was formed to develop and produce high-performance lithium-ion battery cells in a plant in Germany that should be ready for production in 2024. The cells use silicon instead of graphite for the anode material.
Porsche has said it hopes to be carbon neutral by 2030. the automaker is also investing in premium charging stations with partners while also creating its own charging infrastructure. Porsche will continue to invest to expand existing networks such as Ionity in Europe but also wants to create its own fast-charger network, starting in Europe in 2023 in high-demand areas, providing ports dedicated to Porsches. It is an issue that will eventually have to be considered for China and North America, Blume says.
Monitoring Ukraine Conflict
As for the war in Ukraine, “Porsche is looking at the armed conflict in Ukraine with great concern and dismay,” says Blume. “We continue to hope for a cessation of hostilities and a return to diplomacy. The safety and integrity of the people are paramount.” Porsche has donated more than $1 million to help people in need in Ukraine. The automaker set up a task force to continues to monitor the impact on Porsche’s business activities.
The succession of challenges: the war, semiconductor shortage, loss of vehicles on a sinking ship, have impacted the entire model range and caused delivery delays. The supply chain of wiring harnesses for reportedly all of Porsche’s lineup has been affected, which has delayed production schedules in some cases. Blume says Porsche has been trying to keep customers informed but warned that delays will continue to affect all model lines for the next several months. He says Porsche is lucky to have an understanding fan base.
Cash and Going Public
Electric vehicles are expensive to build but Porsche has always been one of the most profitable automotive brands and just completed another record financial year in sales revenue and operating profit, increasing by 15 percent and 27 percent respectively. Against this backdrop, Porsche is proceeding with plans to go public; an IPO would raise its profile and provide more freedom to pursue future products that require more tech and capital.
In addition to electric and autonomous vehicles, Porsche will spend at least $1.1 billion a year, over the next five years, on digitizing everything from products that can receive over-the-air updates, to how the company interacts with customers, to internal processes and production. Porsche has an ambitious 2025 profitability program designed to sustain profits as it transitions to the electric age. The automaker has lowered its breakeven point, providing leeway to make the necessary investments in expensive technology.
Keyword: Porsche Announces 718 Cayman and Boxster EVs and a 911 Hybrid