It seems Porsche is going into a different market segment with their all-electric Taycan model, we already know the Taycan 4S, Taycan Turbo, and Taycan Turbo S. But those are priced between $103,800 and $185,000 … now Porsche is releasing a more entry-level version, simply called Taycan, and it will be listed at dealers for $79,900.
This new Porsche Taycan variant will come with rear-wheel drive only, and it was previously only sold in China, but it seems Porsche thinks there is also a market for a lower-priced Taycan on other markets too. Making this Taycan RWD only means Porsche removed the front-drive unit, and while you might think having no all-wheel-drive anymore is a bad thing … think about the 90 kg (200 pounds) weight saving this brings.
As with the Taycan 4s, this new version can be ordered with either the 79.2 kWh Performance battery, or the 93.4 kWh Plus battery, unfortunately, the latter is also 77 kg (170 pounds) heavier, so you’ll have to decide which is more important to you. With the Performance battery, the Taycan comes with 402 hp (300 kW) and a 344 Nm torque … on the other hand, the Plus battery rises those numbers to 469 hp (350 kW) and 357 nM.
Acceleration figures stay the same no matter which battery option you go for, 0 to 60 mph takes 5.1 seconds while the top speed of this Taycan is 230 km/h (or 143 mph) … strangely enough only the EURO spec Taycan gets a range rating from Porsche, 431 km (268 miles) with the Performance battery, or 484 km (301 miles) with the Plus battery … why Porsche didn’t give range figures for the US model to be available in the spring of 2021 is unclear.
