Porsche To Launch New Product Lineup By 2020

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Mar 17, 2015

In the annual press conference held in Stuttgart, Germany, by the Volkswagen (VLKAY, Financial) group; its luxury sports vehicle division Porsche revealed its future plans to launch environment-friendly electric vehicles by 2020 and also showed interest in getting into hydrogen-fuel-car-designing within the same stipulated timeline. This decision of expansion of its lineup has been taken keeping in mind the increasing fame of Tesla Motors (TSLA, Financial) in the EV space in the U.S. Let’s plunge in to find out what was shared at the brand’s annual press conference last Friday.

The nascent plan-of-action

The luxury sports vehicle unit of Volkswagen is expected to present a seventh model line by the end of the decade. This was confirmed by Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller in a statement made at the annual conference of the German automaker on March 13.

Though the car details or designs are still not released, analysts are opining that Porsche would target the EV segment by 2020 as regulations are becoming stricter in the U.S. and most of the luxury brands including BMW (BMW, Financial), Mercedes (DDAIF, Financial), and Audi have already taken the initial plunge into this segment to promote manufacture of EVs in the U.S. Now, it's high time Porsche also begins to think on the same lines.

While speaking on Tesla Motors, CEO Matthias Mueller mentioned, “Tesla has built an exceptional car… They have a very pragmatic approach and set the standard, where we have to follow up now.” Last month, in Car Magazine, it was mentioned that Porsche was planning to launch an all-wheel driven four door EV by 2019. The publication had even mentioned that the provisional name of the EV would be “Porsche 717” having a driving range of over 300 miles. But this news has not been confirmed by the German automaker yet.

Instead it is being heard that Porsche is considering the launch of a sports car that could be between the 911 and the 918 Spyder hybrid supercar. However further details on the new sports vehicle are still under wraps and have not been revealed during the annual conference. In a Bloomberg report recently, it was shared that Porsche is targeting a range exceeding 310 miles for the EV if it is launched by 2020 to challenge the Tesla models which have made a trademark in the U.S. EV market.

Sustaining the sales potential

It is notable that Porsche sales have been remarkably high in 2014 with deliveries rising almost 17% to 189,849 cars in the past year. In February of this year, the deliveries stood at 14,836 cars exhibiting an upsurge of 34% when compared on a year-over-year basis.

With plans to sell more than 200,000 vehicles for the first time in its history this year, such a future plan shared at the annual conference looks pretty achievable by the luxury unit of Volkswagen. With demand of Porsche’s Macan compact SUV on the rise, it can be concluded that Porsche vehicles are well acclaimed in the U.S. and its sales record stands comparable to sister brands like Audi and Bentley, Mercedes Benz and BMW.

Parting word

Porsche’s entry into the EV segment might truly be a challenge to Tesla Motors in the long run, though there are years left for the launch of the EV within which Tesla might bring forth innovation in its existing model lineup. But Porsche’s credibility is unquestionable and that is well reflected in the rise of deliveries which will possibly continue in the years to come. Let’s stay tuned for the seventh model lineup of Porsche after which the auto market reaction to the same could be studied at length.