718 Boxster may go electric next
A fully electric Porsche may be nearly as popular as the sporty 911 in the near future.
Oliver Blume, Porsche CEO, tells Automobilwoche he expects a big demand for the all-electric Mission E, which was first unveiled in Frankfurt in 2015. How big? Well, how about 20,000?
“We have the Mission E calculated with a number of items in the order of about 20,000,” Blume tells the German publication.
Porsche sold 31,350 911s world wide last year (8,360 in the U.S.), so 20,000 Mission Es is a pretty lofty goal.
The fully electric, 600-horsepower sports sedan concept has been touted as reaching 0-62 mph in less than 3.5 seconds. Plus, the futuristic four-seater has a driving range of more than 300 miles on a 15-minute charge of its lithium-ion battery pack.
The Mission E will not be only electric Porsche available for EV fanatics. The magazine also reports that Michael Steiner, Porsche’s head of development, is currently toying with the idea of a 718 Boxster getting a plug-in option.
It’s all very plausible. Porsche’s Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, already in production, made its global debut at this year’s Paris auto show. The new E-Hybrid has a combined 462 hp via a 2.6-liter V-6 engine and a 100-kW electric motor — a decent amount of power for a hybrid.
A fully electric or hybrid Boxster sounds like a logical and fantastic idea, but purists should not worry about losing the gas-powered Porsches anytime soon. Blume still expects that the three drive variants will exist together for quite a long time. (Whew.)
Porsche’s Mission E is expected to be hitting the global market as early as 2019. We can’t wait to drag race it alongside a few Teslas and other EVs when it makes its official debut.
Source: Motortrend