Porsche releases first teaser images of new Taycan (Mission E) – ‘soul, electrified’

After announcing that the Mission E, Porsche’s first all-electric vehicle, is becoming the Taycan when going into production, the German automaker has now released the first teaser images of the upcoming all-electric sedan.

As we have been analyzing Porsche’s early marketing of the Mission E since the launch of the concept vehicle in 2015, we have been saying that the automaker seems to be positioning the vehicle as being a “real Porsche” and claiming that it is going to be the first electric vehicle to “have a soul.”

It appears to be confirmed as Porsche’s strategy as they released their first marketing effort for the production version of the vehicle – now known as the Taycan.

Porsche released a video focused on the vehicle “having a soul”. They wrote in the description:

All Porsche models have something in common: They have a soul. A certain feeling you get as a driver as soon as you get behind the wheel. Soon, the Porsche Taycan is coming. And although his heart is powered by a different force – electricity – the soul, once again, is the same.

Here’s the video:

The video also appears to include the first teaser images of the production version Taycan, which is expected to be officially unveiled by the end of the year for a start of production next year:

Ever since unveiling the Mission E concept, Porsche has been saying that the production version will remain fairly similar.

Based on those images, the shape indeed appears to be close to the concept, which has won several design awards:

The vehicle is expected to have a range of over 250 miles.

The company has previously been talking about a 0 to 60 mph acceleration in 3.5 seconds and earlier this year, a Porsche executive said that the Mission E will be able to go long distances at high-speed, like traveling on the German autobahn, or to complete a few laps on the race track.

But the vehicle’s charging system might be the biggest feature that the Mission E, now the Taycan, is bringing to market.

Porsche is talking about an 800-volt system that should allow a charge rate of up to 350 kW, which could charge the car up to 80% in only 15 minutes.

Previous unconfirmed reports suggest that the Porsche Mission E will start at ~$75,000 with three different performance trims – making the vehicle competitive with the Tesla Model S’ current pricing structure.

Those specs are expected to be updated with the production version of the vehicle, along with the design.

Electrek’s Take

I think it’s a smart strategy from Porsche. A “soul” is such an abstract concept that it can mean different things to many people, but no matter what you think it is – you kind of want your car to have one.

While I don’t agree that other electric vehicles don’t have one, I get what Porsche is trying to do here.

As I previously stated, I like that Porsche seems to market the electric vehicle as really feeling “like a Porsche”.

If they can indeed pull it off, they could maybe convince diehard Porsche fanatics to go electric with their next vehicle and of course, they could also gain new Porsche enthusiasts, along the way.