Porsche Debuts Taycan Electric Sports Car

To debut its inaugural all-electric sports car, the Taycan, Porsche selected a Chinese wind farm, a German solar site and Niagara Falls. The unveiling was to occur at simultaneous events in three markets, where the car was to be basked in visuals of sustainable power, Bloomberg reported.

The automaker is launching the Taycan’s higher-priced variants, starting with the Turbo S as well as the $150,900 Turbo. As of last count, it has brought in roughly 30,000 deposits. And, in a reported first for a carmaker, the car is partially financed by a $1.1 billion (one-billion-euro) Schuldschein promissory note.

The car is said to compete with Tesla’s Model S, after Jaguar, Audi and Mercedes-Benz chose sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to jump-start their electric car offerings. Tesla is said to be facing concerns about whether it can offer sustainable profits, with demand for older variants waning as sales rise for the Model 3.

Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Michael Dean wrote in a report that the Taycan “is a turning point for Porsche and the industry as it raises the technical bar for electric vehicles beyond Tesla.” Dean added that the Taycan should “be profitable from launch given Porsche’s proven pricing power, albeit at vastly reduced margins as compared with gas-powered models.”

In separate electric car news, Tesla is adding to its in-car entertainment features, and will soon offer YouTube and Netflix streaming on its vehicles’ multimedia screens. Streaming will only be available at the time that a car is parked, though Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in a July tweet that “when full self-driving is approved by regulators, we will enable video while moving.” Tesla is said to have a mobile gaming console on its cars’ screens, and the streaming will reportedly work in a similar manner.