Refreshed Porsche Taycan gets enhanced performance for 2024
As Porsche's first series production electric car, the Taycan is insanely fast, good to drive, and practical enough to use daily.
It’s an engineering marvel in moving electric car tech forward. Following its introduction sometime in 2019, the Taycan has recently been given a nip and tuck for the 2024 model year to keep it fresh among newer entrants to the market.
Aesthetically, the new facelifted Taycan features new front and rear-end styling, courtesy of new headlights and rear lights while following the famous clean design associated with the Taycan sports car.
Other changes include a 3D Porsche logo and a glass-look design. For the first time, an illuminated version of this is available featuring welcome/leaving animations.
Moving inside, the Taycan’s instrument cluster, central display, and optional passenger display feature an optimised user interface with additional functions. As such, the mode switch on the steering wheel is now offered as a standard while models with the Sport Chrono package and the Performance Battery Plus are fitted with a special push-to-pass button (with a boost of up to 70kW) on the mode switch.
For a much more intuitive experience, there is a new control lever on the left behind the steering wheel with Porsche saying that Apple CarPlay has been more deeply integrated into the vehicle displays and functions.
While changes may be subtle on the outside, the Taycan conceals massive improvements under the skin and Porsche has gone to extra lengths to make the new Taycan even more potent than its predecessors.
That said, the models now weigh 15 kilograms less than the outgoing variants and according to Porsche, the Taycan models now accelerate much faster from 0-100km/h than their predecessors.
For example, the Taycan hurtles from rest to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds while the formidable Turbo S completes the same sprint in 2.4 seconds. This makes them 0.6 and 0.4 seconds faster respectively than the outgoing variants, thanks to the addition of 60kW for the base models and 104kW for the latter. It now pumps out a ludicrous 700kW.
When it comes to the driving range, it has increased to up to 678km depending on the body type - an increase of 175km or 35 percent over the outgoing model. In terms of recharging the battery packs, it can be charged at up to 320kW at an 800-volt DC charging facility - a notable 50kW more than before.
As for the Performance Battery Plus, it now has a gross capacity of 105kWh, increased from 93kWh.
The new Taycan can be had with four powertrain options with rear- and all-wheel drive solely for the sports sedan, and three powertrain options with all-wheel drive for the Cross Turismo.
In the realm of high-performance electric vehicles, the Porsche Taycan holds a distinguished position and it’s widely considered as one of the most coveted electric cars globally. The facelift has further refined the electric model and further equipped it with advanced features.
Sold in two body variants; sedan and the versatile Cross Turismo, the range is earmarked to launch locally in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Pricing
- Taycan: R2,912,000
- Taycan 4S: R3,261,000
- Taycan Turbo: R4,349,000
- Taycan Turbo S: R5,225,000
- Taycan 4 Cross Turismo: R3,239,000
- Taycan 4S Cross Turismo: R3,405,000
- Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo: R4,383,000
