Porsche confirms electric 718 successor
Porsche has now officially confirmed that it intends to offer its mid-engine 718 sports car exclusively in all-electric form by the middle of the decade. The sports car brand will also invest in its own HPC infrastructure.
Porsche did not provide further details on the electric sports car during the announcement of its business figures for 2021. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume only confirmed: “We are stepping up our electric offensive with another model: By the middle of the decade, we want to offer our mid-engine 718 sports car exclusively in an all-electric form.” Blume left open a platform, possible technical specifications and whether the 718 of the four-cylinder model will also be retained for the electric sports car.
Porsche is rumoured to be planning to invest around 500 million euros in its main plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen to convert the production lines of the 718 series with Boxster and Cayman for the production of the all-electric successor generation. After the four-seater Taycan, the two-seater sports car would be the second electric model from Zuffenhausen. According to the report from February, production is to start in 2023 – the same year as the electric Macan in Leipzig.
When announcing its financial figures for 2021, Porsche also announced its intention to increase the share of all its new vehicles with purely electric drive to more than 80 per cent by 2030. As an interim step, half of all new Porsche sales are to be fully electric or plug-in hybrids by 2025. In 2021, the share of BEVs and PHEVs was already 40 per cent.
Porsche now also officially confirms investments in its own charging infrastructure, but without giving details. Together with partners, it will invest in “premium charging stations”. There is speculation about 100 Porsche-owned HPC locations in Europe, ten to 15 of them in Germany. In February, an HPC park was opened in Spain together with the energy provider Iberdrola.
The brand also confirmed that “substantial investments” will flow into core technologies such as battery systems and module manufacturing. In December, it was announced that the battery factory of Cellforce, a joint venture between Porsche and Customcells, will be built near Reutlingen.
Porsche is also on the verge of a partial IPO: Porsche Automobil Holding SE, in which the Porsche and Piech families have pooled their 53 per cent stake in Volkswagen AG, announced in February that it was in advanced talks about the key points of a possible IPO. However, a final decision has not yet been made. According to reports, Porsche SE could receive a pre-emptive right in the partial IPO. Through a dual shareholding in Porsche AG – sometimes directly, sometimes via VW – Porsche SE and thus the Porsche and Piech families would increase their influence on the sports car manufacturer.
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