Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year

ron_b

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https://www.automobilemag.com/news/porsche-taycan-electric-ev-2020-design-of-the-year/

The Porsche Taycan Is the 2020 Design of the Year

A leading light for Porsche in nearly every way.

Porsche Taycan Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year 2020-Porsche-Taycan-Turbo-S-01


Jan 1, 2020

There is nothing surprising about Automobile choosing a Porsche as our Design of the Year. But that the model we honor is a four-door sedan and doesn't have an engine, well, that might be a little startling to most of our readers. Yet we stand with the simple credo set out with our first issue 34 years ago: No Boring Cars. And, believe it, there's nothing at all boring about the Taycan. It is in fact a truly important car, as important to automotive history as was that feeble little Volkswagen hot rod put together in an Austrian lumberyard more than 70 years ago, leading inexorably to this excellent battery-powered electric automobile.

Electricity and the technology of its application was important to Ferdinand Porsche, paterfamilias of what has become one of the world's most important prestige car companies. His Löhner-Porsche automobile was almost a full century ahead of Honda's and Toyota's popular applications of the hybrid concept; his mid-engine formula race cars were decades ahead of the Cooper and Lotus racers that ultimately transformed serious car racing worldwide. The good professor left this world 69 years ago, but his name shines even more brightly today than it did during his lifetime.

Porsche AG is now a part of the Volkswagen Group, a result of a lot of fancy but unsuccessful financial maneuvering intended to make all of VW part of Porsche, and today it makes more SUVs than it does sports cars. But all of its products are seriously engineered, and they are probably the world's best-made serially produced vehicles, with nearly perfect fit, finish, and reputation. The company earned the reputation quite legitimately, so it is truly significant when a carmaker with so much to lose embarks upon an adventure that breaks entirely with the past and puts it on an uncharted path.

Porsche Taycan Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year 2020-Porsche-Taycan-Turbo-S-11


The Taycan line is Porsche's third sedan, after two generations of the Panamera; both versions of the latter are really excellent cars whether equipped with gasoline or diesel powertrains. Performance and quality made them highly desirable, though, not their appearance. The first edition was less than beautiful, the second improved slightly but was definitely not a styling leader. All the intangible virtues they possess are part and parcel of the Taycan, too, but it has another attribute that is far more important: It strongly and convincingly resembles the half-century-old 911 line, which to most people is Porsche.

More than any other model Porsche has ever produced, the Taycan captures the famous 911's roof profile, side glass shape, downward sloping nose, and solidly planted stance. It is also closest to the Erwin Komenda designs that began at Auto Union with Porsche, from the Type 64/VW 60K10 that is now claimed to be the first Porsche (it isn't really) and on to the Type 356 that put Porsche into the manufacturing business under the family name.

That's quite a heritage to live up to, and we think the handsome Taycan honors it well. Front overhang is quite long, actually longer than the rear, surprisingly, but it does not seem at all excessive. The substantial opening under the nose ingests cooling air—electrical machinery generates heat in operation exactly as does internal-combustion machinery—and more is taken in below the headlamps. The headlamp fairing and the black inverted "L" shape including the vertical inlets is a strong visual identity mark for the Taycan. Hot air is exhausted down the body sides just at the leading edge of the front doors, where there is a notable mismatch between the convex lower portion of the fender cross-section and the considerable indent at the bottom of the doors. The two separate panels are tied together visually by a dark trim piece on the fender side with a sort of speed streak flowing back toward the door handles but disappearing halfway down the length of the door skin.

Porsche Taycan Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year 2020-Porsche-Taycan-Turbo-S-08


The cabin is classically simple, appearing to be comfortable, if perhaps a little tight for rear seat passengers. But that has been the case for sport sedans forever, and it's not inappropriate here, because however quiet and smooth the Taycan may be, it is indeed a sports car from one of the finest sports-car companies of all time. What jars a bit is the option of wood trim in what is, after all, one of the highest-technology cars in existence. Some of the best interiors ever designed laid claim to the title without using any wood—open pore, piano finish, oiled, lacquered, or whatever. The Taycan's steering wheel is blessedly just round, nicely covered in leather, and clearly intended for the serious driver, around whom the cockpit is organized.

The Porsche's trunk, even, is an exemplary design. Load height is reasonable, there are ribbed metal scuff plates to protect the inner carpet, and above all, the lid swings up high and out of the way on giant arms that are free of asperities, linkages, struts, or other impeding elements that might mar your luggage. It's impressive, and a lesson to some other manufacturers that have not been as solicitous of their customers' real needs. The external aspects of the rear body are impressive, as well. The single, simple, full-width taillight bar is quite elegant and naturally relates to previous 911 solutions. The actual rear bumper runs across the tail at the statutory height and completes a rear graphic composition that is at once classical and cleanly modern.

Porsche Taycan Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year 2021-Porsche-Taycan-4s-frozen-blue-metallic-5


In transmuting the 2015 Mission E concept car into a purchasable product, Porsche was able to more than fulfill the promises made at the show car's Frankfurt unveiling. There is more power, the car can turn a lap of the Nürburgring in less time than claimed, and if it may not have quite the range hoped for at launch, it is adequate for most owners' purposes, and it can indeed be charged more quickly than most other cars, specifically the Tesla Model S that has forced all the major luxury-car manufacturers to embrace electric power.

It's going to be fascinating to see how all this plays out in the next few years, but one thing is certain: Porsche is going to hold onto its preeminent position in the world's automotive universe, with our Design of the Year as a leader.
 
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TheSnape

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And THIS is why it's such a good design

Sorry to use the same image twice, but it proves my point. As a Porsche, Taycan is elegant and good looking. As a sedan, it's absolutely revolutionary in terms of design!

There is no better looking 4 door sedan on the market. Tesla - assuming they'll design the next Model S for rear seat headroom in mind, won't cut it. Jaguar may have a chance with the electric XJ, but that's only because their philosophy - like Porsche's - strongly favours sports cars - Jaguar figures say that their cars are either sports cars or desiring to be sports cars when they grow up - not unlike Porsche.

Tesla may surprise me by making the next Model S more along the stylistic lines of the Tesla Roadster 2017.

Otherwise, it's safe to say that the Taycan will probably be the best looking electric sedan of the next decade.

Porsche Taycan Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year imagetayca
 

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I fully agree with you, after having seen a Taycan Turbo S at the dealership a week ago (and I didn't feel that way so much before I saw it in person): the Taycan is the most impressive-looking 4-door sedan on the planet now, inside and out. It is stunning in person. I know that a lot of people here think that the Cross Turismo is a step down from this, but I actually think it might look better (just as the Sport Turismo looks better to me than the Panamera sedan).
 

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And THIS is why it's such a good design

Sorry to use the same image twice, but it proves my point. As a Porsche, Taycan is elegant and good looking. As a sedan, it's absolutely revolutionary in terms of design!

There is no better looking 4 door sedan on the market. Tesla - assuming they'll design the next Model S for rear seat headroom in mind, won't cut it. Jaguar may have a chance with the electric XJ, but that's only because their philosophy - like Porsche's - strongly favours sports cars - Jaguar figures say that their cars are either sports cars or desiring to be sports cars when they grow up - not unlike Porsche.

Tesla may surprise me by making the next Model S more along the stylistic lines of the Tesla Roadster 2017.

Otherwise, it's safe to say that the Taycan will probably be the best looking electric sedan of the next decade.

imagetaycan.png
and may I ask “what is the colour” of this Taycan in this article? (It looks like Crayon rather than white)
 

TheSnape

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and may I ask “what is the colour” of this Taycan in this article? (It looks like Crayon rather than white)
This is Carrara White I think

Not many cars look in white (except for perhaps the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari Testarossa maybe) but this does

It makes it look more like that Mission E concept - though whatever colour you get, you need to spec the white Mission E Wheels

EDIT: Oh wait you meant the article, I'm not sure, to be honest, my image has it in Carrara White, but here I'm a bit confused as to whether it's Carrara White or Dolomite Silver - I think it's the lighting
 


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This is Carrara White I think

Not many cars look in white (except for perhaps the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari Testarossa maybe) but this does

It makes it look more like that Mission E concept - though whatever colour you get, you need to spec the white Mission E Wheels

EDIT: Oh wait you meant the article, I'm not sure, to be honest, my image has it in Carrara White, but here I'm a bit confused as to whether it's Carrara White or Dolomite Silver - I think it's the lighting
This is Carrara White I think

Not many cars look in white (except for perhaps the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari Testarossa maybe) but this does

It makes it look more like that Mission E concept - though whatever colour you get, you need to spec the white Mission E Wheels

EDIT: Oh wait you meant the article, I'm not sure, to be honest, my image has it in Carrara White, but here I'm a bit confused as to whether it's Carrara White or Dolomite Silver - I think it's the lighting
This is Crayon (Macan S I bought my wife in Nov) - nice colour ... my Taycan 4S will be Dolomite Silver (due late Jan build & delivery to dealer 27th March is present estimate.

Porsche Taycan Automobile Magazine - The Porsche Taycan is the 2020 Design of the Year 081760B8-E107-4A47-B72B-83D7133861FA
 

TheSnape

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This is Crayon (Macan S I bought my wife in Nov) - nice colour ... my Taycan 4S will be Dolomite Silver (due late Jan build & delivery to dealer 27th March is present estimate.

081760B8-E107-4A47-B72B-83D7133861FA.png
Yeah, that does look like the colour of the car in the article.

I didn't know it was a colour option for the Taycan, tbh
 

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Yeah, that does look like the colour of the car in the article.

I didn't know it was a colour option for the Taycan, tbh
I agree .... certainly UK options didn’t list that colour although tbh I expect a few colours to be unique to different regions (esp USA) ... manufacturers have been doing this for decades
 


Mission4S

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and may I ask “what is the colour” of this Taycan in this article? (It looks like Crayon rather than white)
... this Taycan is carrara white metallic - like my favorite colour I ordered ;)

In case you have a license plate for an official Taycan image you can get a lot of additional information from Porsche.
e.g. for the license plate S-GO 283E of your reply you can get this addition information from the Porsche press page (including the information about carrara white metallic):
https://presse.porsche.de/prod/pres...onid=1044929&hl=modelle-taycan-taycan_turbo_s

For a lot of other license plates (including S-GO 131E of the original article for this thread which is also carrara white metallic) of official Porsche images you will find the full Taycan specification and detailled information here:
https://e-performance.io/en/taycan-vehicle-information

In addition on this page you can pick for the combobox "model" the values "Taycan 4S" or "Taycan Turbo" or "Taycan Turbo S" which results in thousands of official images including license plates and details about official Porsche Taycan images:
https://presse.porsche.de/prod/pres...odelle-taycan-taycan_4s&formtab=2&level1tab=1
 
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Hmm...I feel the Porsche might be facing competition style wise.

Jaguar said that their XJ (which will compete with the Taycan) will not look like a conventional saloon. Their rear 3/4 looks very similar to the Taycan's rear 3/4 proportion wise - though the teaser only shows a part of the bootlid. The Taycan doesn't look like a conventional saloon - it looks revolutionary for a four door sedan. Hence the Jaguar XJ's proportions are likely to be very similar to the Taycan's

Hence the competition (Not yet sure about Tesla) have been inspired by how Porsche has moved the design game on - Porsche have literally set a trend here - though I think it'll be followed by other manufacturers of sporting marques like Porsche and Jaguar which have sporting DNA in their heritage.
 

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Hmm...I feel the Porsche might be facing competition style wise.

Jaguar said that their XJ (which will compete with the Taycan) will not look like a conventional saloon. Their rear 3/4 looks very similar to the Taycan's rear 3/4 proportion wise - though the teaser only shows a part of the bootlid. The Taycan doesn't look like a conventional saloon - it looks revolutionary for a four door sedan. Hence the Jaguar XJ's proportions are likely to be very similar to the Taycan's

Hence the competition (Not yet sure about Tesla) have been inspired by how Porsche has moved the design game on - Porsche have literally set a trend here - though I think it'll be followed by other manufacturers of sporting marques like Porsche and Jaguar which have sporting DNA in their heritage.
Have not seen any info on the Jag so far. Do you really believe Jag/ Landrover have anything to offer? Looking at the iPace!
 

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Have not seen any info on the Jag so far. Do you really believe Jag/ Landrover have anything to offer? Looking at the iPace!
I think the Jaguar XJ will have very similar proportions to the Taycan, but the stylistic cues will be Jaguar based - the same way the Taycan has a 911-style profile and many 911 design cues, I wouldn't be surprised if the XJ had many Jaguar E-type cues and proportions similar to the E-Type coupe of the 1960s. Basically it will look like a Jaguar coupe.

I don't think the XJ will be as sporty as the Taycan, and unless Jaguar have managed miracles with the battery pack, it will probably have a similar weight story to the Taycan. But it might be close to the Taycan in terms of sportiness and I have a feeling it will have luxury interior - focused more on materials, similar to how Pagani do theirs maybe? I don't really know, and there aren't any forums for the XJ like there were for the Taycan and so I'm literally scrambling in the dark for information about the XJ.

I think Jaguar (XJ in particular) will be almost as sporty as Taycan but may have slight edge on interior materials/luxury - but not sure. I think it will be similar to Audi E Tron GT - but Jaguar's version of it
 

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And THIS is why it's such a good design

Sorry to use the same image twice, but it proves my point. As a Porsche, Taycan is elegant and good looking. As a sedan, it's absolutely revolutionary in terms of design!

There is no better looking 4 door sedan on the market. Tesla - assuming they'll design the next Model S for rear seat headroom in mind, won't cut it. Jaguar may have a chance with the electric XJ, but that's only because their philosophy - like Porsche's - strongly favours sports cars - Jaguar figures say that their cars are either sports cars or desiring to be sports cars when they grow up - not unlike Porsche.

Tesla may surprise me by making the next Model S more along the stylistic lines of the Tesla Roadster 2017.

Otherwise, it's safe to say that the Taycan will probably be the best looking electric sedan of the next decade.

imagetaycan.png
Agreed! I’ve loved the shape since the official reveal but for some reason it looks better and better with every passing week. It’s just so right!
 

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Agreed! I’ve loved the shape since the official reveal but for some reason it looks better and better with every passing week. It’s just so right!
That pic could easily pass off as the new 911...
 

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That pic could easily pass off as the new 911...
if not for the tear drop front and the second set of door handles ... I actually kinda wish the 992 kept more of the hood design from the 991 so these two lines had more distinction. I’m perfectly aok with the taycan not being a 911.
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