Porsche mulling Panamera and Taycan Merger

[W1NGE]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/porsche-mulls-merging-taycan and-panamera-single-model

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[Taycan4S_UK]

Just hope they retain the Taycan dimensions... Panamera looks and feels huge...Taycan is already huge/wide. Getting through London restrictions is already hard lol

 

[W1NGE]

Just hope they retain the Taycan dimensions... Panamera looks and feels huge...Taycan is already huge/wide. Getting through London restrictions is already hard lol

I had a Panamera 4 ST and then a Taycan GTS ST. Dimensions are pretty much the same and not as different as you might think. (both 4+1). Way back then I often thought that the Panamera would be retired as the two models were effectively too close for comfort and sales of the Panamera typically low in general.

Had Porsche thought about it they should have made the PPE (Porsche Platform Electric) architecture more flexible to additionally accommodate the hosting of both petrol and hybrid powertrains - this sounds like what might be coming now.

In truth the Taycan is wider with the mirrors in.

I didn't find the dimensions an issue and was already accustomed to it.

I sadly kept a record of each car I had for the purposes of checking garage dimensions and in particular width tolerances. Here's the relevant sample:

Model	Length MM	Width MM (mirrors in)	Width MM (mirrors out)
Taycan 4S	4963	1966	2144
Taycan GTS ST	4963	1966	2144
Panamera 4 ST	5049	1937	2165

 

[prj]

If it goes on PPC/PPE then we just get an Audi RS7/RS6 in different guise, meaning forget all the bespoke sportscar-like suspension setup and so on.

Makes sense from the money perspective to take an Audi and slap some panels on. They're currently doing that with the ICE Macan (Audi Q5). The only saving grace is that they'll most likely succeed in packaging the V8 4.0TT into it, so it will be somewhat bonkers from that perspective, but it's still a Q5 underneath.

 

[n3ophyte]

This would be disappointing. I was attracted to the Taycan for its unique and novel architecture. Such a shame Porsche’s engineering efforts went largely unrewarded

 

[ze_shark]

I would not waste keystrokes speculating. We will see on Wednesday March 11th what they say and don't.

 

[RAHRCR]

I had a Panamera 4 ST and then a Taycan GTS ST. Dimensions are pretty much the same and not as different as you might think. (both 4+1). Way back then I often thought that the Panamera would be retired as the two models were effectively too close for comfort and sales of the Panamera typically low in general.

Had Porsche thought about it they should have made the PPE (Porsche Platform Electric) architecture more flexible to additionally accommodate the hosting of both petrol and hybrid powertrains - this sounds like what might be coming now.

In truth the Taycan is wider with the mirrors in.

I didn't find the dimensions an issue and was already accustomed to it.

I sadly kept a record of each car I had for the purposes of checking garage dimensions and in particular width tolerances. Here's the relevant sample:

Model	Length MM	Width MM (mirrors in)	Width MM (mirrors out)
Taycan 4S	4963	1966	2144
Taycan GTS ST	4963	1966	2144
Panamera 4 ST	5049	1937	2165

Glad you weighed on this...I also had a Pan 4S ST. They are essentially the same size on the outside but the Pan is much more spacious and luxurious on the inside. Given the Taycan is a Pan derivative from a chassis standpoint, this makes sense. I would be open to a merger since both seem to have unclear futures especially if Asia excluded from the equation.

 

[Leccy61]

Seems the Taycan is only a couple of inches lower, but to my eyes it looks much lower and more sporty and sexy (I sometimes park mine next to a Panamera and an RS6).

What a shame if this happens, losing its soul to be an Audi underneath would be end of the road for me.

 

[chun]

I'm of the opinion that EVs not built on a ground up EV platform are bound to fail.

Looking at what Lucid / Xiaomi achieve on a ground up EV platform should make that clear enough. Ignoring quality issues that get solved with time, which both of those brands may have due to their young age, the cars have a lot more space for passangers and storage, more space for an extra motor, more space for a bigger battery, better noise insulation, better support for future improvments. And the fact that they both offer similar or better performance and handling than the taycan, with lesser body handling systems, I think speaks on the strength of what a ground up EV platform can achieve.

But the article is mostly speculation. And it says that the highest chance is of them still being on different platform, but just sharing the body panels, at least for the next generation.

 

[mkg3]

From the Autocar story linked, it sounds more like marketing consolidation and parts sharing more than moving completely to an Audi platform. Furthermore, based on what I've read, the entire VWG brands are going to use the SSP so there already are standardization happening anyways.

"With the cost of developing dedicated electric models weighing increasingly on profitability, Porsche is reassessing the long-term viability of running the Panamera and Taycan as entirely separate engineering programmes. Sources have suggested it is exploring greater parts sharing and the possibility of a common identity, even if successor versions continue to use different platforms.

Porsche already operates parallel architectures under a single model name. The combustion Macan continues to be sold alongside the electric Macan in several markets, despite the two being based on different platforms. The same approach has been adopted with the Cayenne. It is not yet known if the two performance saloons would take the Panamera or Taycan name."

 

[W1NGE]

Seems the Taycan is only a couple of inches lower, but to my eyes it looks much lower and more sporty and sexy (I sometimes park mine next to a Panamera and an RS6).

What a shame if this happens, losing its soul to be an Audi underneath would be end of the road for me.

It is already an Audi underneath - e-tron GT is its sibling remember. Audi lead, Porsche follow and generally do a better job but there is so much cross platform sharing within the group which makes all of the product lines generic VW. 911 / Cayman / Boxster being the exception.

 

[Leccy61]

Fair point @W1NGE, I was thinking about Macan/Q5, Taycan/RS7 where the underlying platform is good but not special in the way the Taycan/etron platform is.

Porsche are pretty good at getting the best out of less specialised platforms, but I’m more attracted to the cars they develop ground up.

 

[j.w.s]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/porsche-mulls-merging-taycan and-panamera-single-model

The flavor of the day seems to be hybrid platforms that can be EV, ICE, or hybrid. In my view that is an architectural dead end. I look forward to getting back to EV-optimized architectures, which can be far more highly optimized that these all-things-to-all-people mashup platforms.

 

[Sly_North]

It is already an Audi underneath - e-tron GT is its sibling remember. Audi lead, Porsche follow [...].

Actually the other way in this rare case: Porsche created the J1 platform, Audi only reused it.

 

[W1NGE]

The flavor of the day seems to be hybrid platforms that can be EV, ICE, or hybrid. In my view that is an architectural dead end. I look forward to getting back to EV-optimized architectures, which can be far more highly optimized that these all-things-to-all-people mashup platforms.

Well you could argue that we have that already with the Taycan (since 2019) and Macan. What happened to the "optimisation" you could ask?

Battery tech lags the receiving architecture. Taycan range hasn't really kept up hence the opportunity.

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