Porsche's battery-powered Taycan on track to zoom past 911

[FRANKFURT] Porsche's iconic 911 sports car, which shaped the German brand's elite image for decades, may soon get eclipsed by the battery-powered Taycan.

Months before its official unveiling in September, Porsche has already amassed deposits for nearly 30,000 Taycans, and the early haul supports plans to lift annual production of the brand's first all-electric model to 40,000 vehicles, Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said Monday in a note.

With Porsche delivering 35,600 911s last year, the Taycan - to be priced at roughly US$90,000 - could zoom past the conventional two-door to define the brand for the next generation.

Success of the Taycan is critical for parent company Volkswagen AG to boost the appeal of electric cars as it prepares for a rollout of battery-powered vehicles for the masses. The Taycan's arrival could also pose a fresh challenge to Tesla Inc's Model S, a key vehicle for Elon Musk's push to make the US electric-car leader profitable.

Customers can register as a prospective Taycan buyer by placing a 2,500-euro (S$3,816) deposit, which gets deducted from the final purchase price. To help drive uptake, Porsche is installing fast chargers at dealerships in the US and Europe that will load the Taycan's battery with enough power to drive as far as 100 kilometers in four minutes. The car's total range on a single charge stands at 500 kilometers.

Porsche set an initial production target of 20,000 vehicles per year, based on a two-shift system but that can be expanded if needed, production chief Albrecht Reimold told reporters last year.

The company has been rapidly building up capacity in recent months. For the 1,500 new hires needed to produce the Taycan, Porsche said Monday that it has recruited nearly 1,000 so far after receiving some 32,000 applications. The training process for the electric-car assembly lasts as long as six months.

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