The new flagship Porsche Taycan has arrived, boasting impressive stats on paper. With nearly 1,100 horsepower under the hood—an absurd figure by any measure—it has already clinched multiple track lap records. Yet, it still bears the rather perplexing “Turbo” moniker, despite being an EV devoid of any turbochargers. Today, we’re dumping the Turbo nomenclature and search for something that actually makes sense.
This isn’t the first rodeo with perplexing car names. Plenty of automakers employ naming conventions that defy logic. Take the Toyota Tacoma SR5, for instance. SR5 allegedly stood for “Sport Rally 5-Speed,” which is quite the misnomer considering it embodies neither sportiness nor rally heritage. Then there’s the RS badge, once denoting “Rally Sport,” yet you won’t find any rally or sporty traits on your Chevy Equinox anytime soon.
Porsche takes the cake for using a mechanical combustion-engine power adder as its flagship naming convention for an electric vehicle. In fact, it’s been chided since the decision to name the top-end Taycan the Turbo. What hasn’t become clear is exactly what else to call this high-end electric vehicle.
More: Porsche Taycan To Coexist With Fully Electric Panamera In The Future Lineup
Porsche has a rich reservoir of names and codes that could signify performance without directly referencing components linked to combustion engines. Take RS (derived from RennSport), for instance; it’s a fitting option, though already in use. In my view, Porsche might consider labeling high-end EVs with the Gruppe B moniker. Yes, it harks back to the defunct Group B rallying class, but it embodies much more than just that.
The 1983 Porsche Gruppe B prototype led directly to the 959. In a way, the 959 was a similarly gigantic departure from the norm for the brand in the same way that the Taycan was.
On top of that, the Gruppe B marked a huge technological tour-de-force for Porsche just like the Taycan. Finally, harkening back to one of, if not the boldest and brashest rally racing series ever can’t be a miss.
What do you think? Did we hit the nail on the head or should Porsche use a different name or number series to denote its performance electric vehicles? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to vote on your favorites!
