Porsche just dipped their toes in the electric waters with the 2020 Taycan, but the company isn’t turning back as CEO Oliver Blume has revealed “electric vehicles will dominate” the future.
Speaking with the company’s in-house Christophorus magazine, Blume said customers have embraced electrification as roughly 60 percent of all Panameras sold in Europe have a plug-in hybrid powertrain. He went on to say that in 2020, he expects “every second Porsche” will have some form of electrification.
After 2020, Blume believes electric vehicles will explode in popularity. He conceded that combustion engines will still exist, but said “electric drive systems will gradually displace combustion engines” in the long run.
While the Blume didn’t go into too many specifics in that particular interview, Porsche deputy chairman Lutz Meschke told Autocar “We need to start thinking about electric cars in the sports car segment.” He went on to say the 718 range is the right place to start and noted an electric 718 “could be a very good step in the future.”
An electric 718 certainly looks possible and Porsche has experimented with the idea in the past. In particular, the company introduced three Boxster E prototypes in 2011 and there have been rumors about an electric variant for next-generation 718.
However, that will require some big changes as Meschke said an electric 718 wouldn’t be able to ride on same PPE platform that underpins the Taycan and upcoming Audi e-tron GT. That suggests the model is still several years off and the publication suggests it wouldn’t arrive until after 2022.
A decision should be made relatively soon as Blume told Auto Express, “We are still in the concept period for the [next] 718 Cayman, but in the next 12 months we will decide whether to go right or to go left.”
