How serious is Porsche about the Taycan Cross Turismo? – Hint: Very serious!
So much so, it is leaving no stone unturned with this one.
The Porsche Taycan has been making some big bucks for the company ever since it was launched at the end of 2019. It is being received so well by the customers that last year, Porsche managed to sell more than 20,000 units of the all-electric sports saloon.
The world is breathing SUVs as one could say at the moment and for Porsche, it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. After all, we all know how well they love making the Cayenne. As a result, an SUV-like variant of the Taycan was always on the cards, and now, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is on the verge of completing its final test drives.
The extensive testing program for the Cross Turismo has already taken place at the legendary Nürburgring, and the Hockenheim track in Germany. The testing grounds at the Weissach Development Centre offered a further off-road challenge outside of Africa with the ‘Safari’ track.
More on that, the prototype version of the Taycan Cross Turismo already seems to be setting records as till now, it has been tested for nearly a million kilometers, which roughly means the first electric Cross Utility Vehicle has hence, circumnavigated the globe 25 times. Minds are blown!
The Cross Turismo version of the Taycan features all the strengths of its saloon model like the performance, long range. The AWD chassis is, along with air suspension, height-adjustable. More headroom and space under the tailgate are also available. Also, the owners are set to receive the Taycan-like supreme quality interior on the Cross Turismo variant, too.
“When developing the Cross Turismo, we were of course able to build on our experience with the Taycan sports saloon. The biggest challenge was combining the requirements of sportiness with off-road capabilities,” explains VP, Model Line, Stefan Weckbach.
“The Cross Turismo has to be capable of high performance on the race track and must also be able to handle scree, mud, and gravel. The result is impressive. However, the Cross Turismo is not a hardcore off-road vehicle but specialises in unpaved and dirt roads. It’s like a type of Swiss army knife on up to 21-inch wheels.”
Important to understand for you is that at Porsche, testing for EVs isn’t different from that of a sports car with an ICE – display of superior performance, proving everyday usability in all climatic conditions, charging the battery, or controlling the temperatures of the powertrain and interior under extreme temperatures, these are some of the additional aspects when testing out an EV.
Porsche is keen on launching the Taycan Cross Turismo for the European market by the summer of this year, while the digital world premiere of the first-ever all-electric Cross Utility Vehicle takes place on March 4, 2021, at 16:00 CET on newstv.porsche.com.
