P Orsche is under renovation, in every sense. Literally because the Zuffenhausen headquarters are currently a single construction site and they are pounding a new plant out in the middle of the city. And on the other hand, because the sports car manufacturer is looking for its way into the future and wants to find its salvation in electromobility. The VW subsidiary is investing six billion euros for this purpose by 2022 and intends to make at least 25 percent of its sales with battery-powered cars in the medium term.
The first model, developed from this money and built in the new factory in the heart of the homeland, has just lost its working title, Mission E, and got the name Taycan. This “lively, young horse” is to become the Tesla competitors and the new image of Porsche shape. Apart from the alternative drive and the futuristic ambience, the Taycan is therefore a Porsche old-school, says Stefan Weckbach, who heads the Mission E and is responsible for the new electric models as a series boss. Like any Porsche, the first electric car should be at the front in the dynamic ranking. And as a style-defining model, he should look like a sports car.
Because Weckbach knows that he has to make compromises in terms of space and thus in everyday practicality, he already has a supplement ready: Cross Turismo is the concept with which he wants to lure family and frequent travelers. So far, this shooting brake with scout rift and increased ground clearance was only seen at fairs. But to bridge the time until the series start of the Taycan at the end of next year and at the same time to make a bit of publicity for the further developed concept of an Audi Allroad in the Porsche trim, Weckbach has now released the mixture of Panamera and Cayenne on the road Test asked.
The consists of the Cross Turismo with flying colors. First, because at just under five meters in length and almost three meters in the rear wheelbase at least as good as sitting in the long Panamera and there is behind a boot, which deserves this name. Secondly, because you can navigate the digital cockpit with three touchscreens right up to the front passenger and a large screen behind the steering wheel. And thirdly, because the mission drives power as it should: fast and sharp.
With two engines totaling more than 600 hp, a value of less than 3.5 seconds is promised for the standard sprint. While competitors such as the Jaguar I-Type at 200 km / h are regulated, the Cross Turismo may run more than 250 km / h. And not just once, but several times over a long time, says Weckbach. What is in the belly a battery pack of about 90 kWh? Why else should you wait at least 24 hours at home, until the battery is charged, if you would have to compromise after that?
Sport is defined in the Cross Turismo not alone on the spurt. The electric car also surprised with its lateral dynamics. With a lower center of gravity than the 911, with four-wheel drive with fully variable power distribution and four-wheel steering, the colossus is surprisingly handy. Unlike most studies, the performance of the Cross Turismo are not fabulous. What the theory promises, solves the million-dollar single piece in practice. “We did not build a big model with an auxiliary engine, but a real car,” says Weckbach. What is he master of hundreds of prototypes with which his team is testing the Taycan. He sacrificed one of them for the Cross Turismo and crossed the serial technology with the body of the study. So the man can successfully promote the system change to the electric drive. After all, anyone who has ever gone on the road with the Cross Turismo will not have much of a genuine Porsche feeling apart from the typical boxer sound. And finally there is not any more in Cayenne or Panamera.
Take the digital future into your own hands.
Remains the question of the good taste. But that is known to be subjective. There are people who see in the study an elegant future, others a failed finger exercise. Officially, there is still no production release for the Cross Turismo, the previous echo was divided according to Weckbach. As enthusiastic as Europeans and Asians would have responded to the concept, the reaction among Americans was restrained. The strangers with the station wagon and call for more SUV, he sums up the criticism. But the line manager just has to look at the conventional cars, then he knows he can not do much with a sports car alone. The models Macan and Cayenne sell better than Boxster, Cayman and 911.
That’s why Design Director Michael Mauer is already redesigning the concept, and both are in good spirits that it will still be something with the Cross Turismo. The former, because he has never shown a study by Porsche, which has not made it to series. And the latter, because the Cross Turismo would be so easy to build. “That’s another advantage of electromobility and our architecture,” says Weckbach. Because the entire technology disappears into the subfloor, a new hat can be put over the platform comparatively quickly and cheaply. Just one year after the Taycan, the electrician could start under the SUV. That Porsche is still a single construction site, did not bother us. Not for nothing does the Cross Turismo have a hand-width more ground clearance and standard four-wheel drive.