Porsche has revealed that the Mission E concept shown at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show will go into production.
The car, as it appeared in concept form earlier this year, is an all-electric four-door sports saloon with 592 bhp from two electric motors, a claimed 310 mile driving range, 15-minute battery charge to 80 per cent thanks to the 800-volt charging point, double the voltage on offer from conventional charging points, and is even capable of wireless conductive charging.
Its design marries some of the cues used on the current Porsche four-door, the Panamera, as well as traits borrowed from Porsche's 918 hypercar. Its body is made up from a combination of aluminium, steel, and carbon fibre reinforced plastic, and is only 1,300mm tall.
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Porsche claim the concept car is capable of 0-62 mph in just 3.5 seconds, and could lap the Nurburgring in under eight minutes thanks to a torque vectoring-based all-wheel drive system, and clever packaging of the batteries which gives the car a low centre of gravity. The batteries are mounted on the underbody, and run the whole length between the front and rear axles.
Inside, there's space and technology. The doors are set in a 'suicide' configuration allowing for easier access. The lack of a transmission tunnel opens up the Mission E's interior space which is full of OLED displays, as well as a holographic screen which is operated with hands-free gesture control and eye-tracking.
Dr Oliver Blume, Chairman of Porsche's executive board said that the manufacturer is "beginning a new chapter in the history of the sports car."
Porsche claims that the production model will be with us 'by the end of the decade,' and the level of investment behind the project is around a billion euros, 700 million of which will be spent at the company's main Stuttgart base – enough to create more than 1,000 jobs.
Porsche won Le Mans in 2015 with the 919 Hybrid LMP 1 car. Commentators say that the investment in the company's racing programme – specifically the money put into developing new battery technologies – helped lay the foundations for the all-electric Porsche to move from theory to production. Auto Express opine that the news of the Mission E's development into future production shows that the Volkswagen Group is trying to put Dieselgate behind it, and reinforces the company's cross-brand commitment to electric and hybrid vehicles.
Evo magazine claims that Porsche, and the VW group as a whole, does not wish to look static in the move towards electric propulsion, and the attention that American electric car company Tesla has received for its electric cars, a rival for Porsche's eventual product, is prompting other to follow suit.
The car is expected to hit the market in a state not too different to the concept car already revealed, says Autocar, and it offers hints regarding the design language which will be used on the next Panamera, which could be revealed next year. The magazine also expects the production model to have a different name.
