Porsche Will Bizarrely Brand The Flagship Taycan EV As The ‘Turbo’
In what must be the universe’s most glaring example of German correctness gone wrong, it seems that Porsche is going to call its fastest Taycan ‘Turbo,’ despite the car having no turbos. Or even an engine.
That’s right: as good as the Taycan is no doubt going to be, its naming structure will align not just with those of the marque’s internal combustion-engined cars (which do actually have turbos), but also with those of countless vacuum cleaners and tumble driers throughout the decades (which don’t). If you whack a ‘Turbo’ sticker on something electrical, it immediately becomes better, right?
This formal reduction of Porsche’s Turbo badge to petty, misplaced branding that implies something is better was revealed in a tweet from motor journalist Alex Roy, who received a message from one of Porsche’s Global Brand Ambassadors detailing the rough pricing and deposit structure for a three-model Taycan range.
The Taycan will cost just over $90,000 in the US, with the 4S priced in the high $90,000s and the, ahem, Turbo all the way up at $130,000 or so. A deposit, if you’re wondering, is $2500.
We’ve previously reported on the suggestion that there would be more than one power output option for Taycan buyers. A two-speed transmission will be standard but outputs in the region of 400, 500 and 600bhp are likely across the three versions. The Taycan Turbo (sigh) will be able to launch to 62mph in 3.5 seconds and pass 124mph in 12.
The Turbo-that-isn’t will also get a larger battery to ensure a competitive driving range, which will make it heavier than the others. We already suspect a base Taycan will occupy the sweet spot.
Comments
Will it have turbo lag?
Hmmm… Maybe an air-based turbo?
Nani?
I don’t see a problem there. turbo has long been a brand for Porsche, so it makes perfectly sense. They also continued to use the turbo name even when every single Porsche has a turbo engine. Porsche and turbo are just a combination everyone assosiates with speed, after one year no one will complain about that.
No. Since when is it acceptable to just throw defined terms out the window for gross marketing purposes?!
This is just making already ambiguous languages more ambiguous… I’m so glad I was made to study languages.
This move from Porsche , it’s for keep their historic customers . i know that’s pointless but “Turbo” badging today is used just by Porsche ( and 30 years ago by Fiat for the UNO lol ) so it’s a truly distinctive point , if i say yoy i own a Turbo S if you’re a Porsche will immediately understand what brand of car i own . so Turbo and 4s will be vital for Porsche to don’t get confusion for future electric models .For a comparison just think of how simple was the bimmer badging in the 80 s “3” was the model “20” indicated the 2.0 liters engine and “i” for the fuel tipe. So go back in our days , what is an x6 M550d , an old bimmer buyer will just reckon the “d” of diesel and anything other . But this want happen for the Taycan , that’s the point !
… as if Porsche was the first to put a turbo on a car…
Just throw one of these into a cupholder , problem solved
$450 Option
The turbo model gets you a turbo keychain and a big red button on the dash that says “turbo”
They have missed the opportunity to put an e in front of the turbo and call it the e-turbo
Ayy! That’s the color I have
If only a ct author could’ve posted this comment #productplug
I never understood this concept of making sports variants of electric cars with more range and battery capacity over other models. Doesn’t make sense.
The “Turbo” badge already lost its significance when the base models became turbocharged too. Nowadays it simply means “more power”.
I think it means “it has a turbocharger”
This is just stupid.
Should have called it the taycan nitro, added exhaust that spit blue flames and make it the next need for speed car