The idea actually came from Porsche's 2022 press conference.
Over the past year, Porsche has delivered the strongest results in its history.
In 2021, Porsche delivered 301915 new cars to customers worldwide, an increase of 11% year-on-year. This is also the first time that Porsche's new car deliveries have exceeded the 300,000 unit mark, setting a record high. The best-selling models are the Macan (88,362 units) and the Cayenne (83,071 units) – two non-sports car models.
This also directly contributed to porsche companies, which achieved record highs in both operating income and profit in FY2021: operating income climbed to EUR 33.1 billion, an increase of EUR 4.4 billion from FY2020 (EUR 28.7 billion), an increase of 15% year-on-year. Profit from sales increased by 1.1 billion euros from the previous fiscal year (4.2 billion euros) to 5.3 billion euros, an increase of 27 percent.
Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Porsche Global Executive Board, courtesy of the Porsche website
You know, in 2021, the factories distributed around the world in the automobile industry have been affected by the epidemic, the shortage of chip supply is shrouded in the entire automotive industry, electric vehicles are not peaceful, raw material prices are rising, and cost increases are more difficult to control....... And all this has been accomplished under such multiple challenges.
But for Porsche, another important issue at this stage is electrification, which is where our concern came from at the beginning.
Let's first look at the macro strategy of Porsche electrification. Oliver Blume, Chairman of Porsche's Global Executive Board, said that Porsche's future is electrification, so Porsche has set a very clear goal – by 2025, electrified models account for about half of global new car sales, including plug-in hybrid or pure electric models. By 2030, pure electric vehicles will account for more than 80% of new car sales.
Of course, at the moment, the support of this grand strategy is actually the Taycan.
In 2021, the delivery volume of the Porsche Taycan more than doubled: 41,296 deliveries worldwide. This strong growth figure even surpassed the Porsche benchmark sports car 911, although the latter also set a new record with 38,464 units delivered.
Remember when the Taycan was released, in fact, many people privately did not look at this electric-driven coupe model, thinking that it lost the soul of Porsche's success - like other luxury brands of electric confidence cars, it will be a "fracture car".
But the performance of 2021 did give those people a slap in the face: the classic model set a new record, the new electric pioneer Taycan got the best results in history, especially in the unsatisfactory 1 million+ electric vehicle market, Porsche's performance in 2021 can be described as "bigger and stronger".
At the moment it seems like a perfect intersection.
Image from the Official Porsche website
One could argue that the Porsche 911 ushered in a whole new era of sports cars. Classic five-in-a-row watch, the smartest gearbox, the perfectly matched mechanical ride and the roar of the track... For half a century, the immortal myth of 911 has been countless victories on the track.
So in the era of electrification, what would an electric-powered Porsche 911 look like?
In fact, we can search for rumors about the pure electric Porsche 911 is actually earlier. In February, Mr. Obermou mentioned in an interview with foreign media that the electrification of 911 is already underway.
Mr. Obermu also said that the electrification of the 911 has always been in the brand's plan. But because the 911 is tied to history and the track, its unique symbol of sport, Obermu also mentioned that the so-called electrified 911 will still not be like a popular model, but will probably be like the 919 Hybrid (Liman 24 Hours of Endurance Factory Car), focusing on performance, and a powerful kinetic energy recovery system.
Let's briefly review the "heart" of the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo:
The legendary car is equipped with a 2.0 L V4 turbocharged engine, plus two energy recovery systems – brake energy recovery and exhaust gas recovery in the front axle. While the 919 Hybrid Evo races the track, while the internal combustion engine powers the rear axle, the electric motor at the front of the car accelerates the front axle, enabling the car to achieve a four-wheel drive effect. In addition, when the car is running, the kinetic energy of the exhaust process is converted into electrical energy, and this part of the electrical energy is stored in the liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery along with the energy recovered by the front brake system.
This is not exactly electrification in our eyes.
At the earnings conference, Mr. Obermou spoke about the differentiated competition of Porsche in the era of electrification that we are very concerned about. He believes that "from a traditional point of view, there is uniqueness in design and uniqueness in quality." But at the same time, the characteristics of Porsche's internal combustion engine models are also applicable to electrified models, such as the uniqueness of performance, and the track will always be the standard for us to design vehicles. ”
"In addition to this, another uniqueness of Porsche is the driving experience, everything that the user experiences in a Porsche vehicle, even including all the digital ecology that surrounds the car, is of paramount importance to us and will be an advantage for Porsche."
Misson R, image from porsche website
Perhaps the answer to this question can also be found in Porsche's latest achievement, the Misson R.
The all-electric GT race car, presented by Porsche in 2021, has already demonstrated Porsche's latest vision: the Mission R consists of an innovative electric motor, an advanced power battery and 900-volt technology.
It has a typical pure electric Porsche style, and the body shape has a more flexible dynamic proportion. Michael Mauer, Porsche Design Director, also emphasized: "Every Porsche must make it clear that it is a Porsche. Of course, it also represents pure motorsport. "This is the future of Porsche electrification.
At present, Porsche plans to present all the mid-engined 718 sports cars in pure electric form around 2025. "For the new generation of the 718, we will adhere to the well-known principle of universal components. This means that future models of the 718 and 911 will still be produced on the assembly line of coupe cars in Zuffenhausen. "Pure electric Macan will also be unveiled around 2025.
Taycan Cross Turismo, image from Porsche's website
Two Taycan spin-offs, the Taycan GTS and the Taycan Cross Turismo, are about to make their Asian debuts at the 2022 Beijing International Auto Show and launch pre-sales. At that time, Porsche's lineup of new energy models in China will be expanded to 21 models.
Mr. Obermou also talked about the "competition" with Tesla - when Porsche launched an electric model, Porsche's measurement was still to make Porsche's own product, that is, to create a pure Porsche electric sports car. "We want our customers to still experience the same handling experience, acceleration, design and quality when driving a Porsche electric vehicle."
More importantly, "Tesla is paying more attention to the mass production car market, for example, the Model 3, which is well known as the production base in Shanghai." Porsche, however, focuses on the luxury electric vehicle market. So while both Tesla and Porsche have electrification strategies, you can't directly compare the two brands because the product positioning is completely different. ”
Therefore, compared with an electric car, the electric 911 is still a 911 that speaks for the track. It is precisely because of this that Porsche has achieved a purebred "track" brand.
Looking to the future, it's hard to say whether this is a right or wrong choice.
But in 2022, Porsche will continue to power Formula E and the World Endurance Championship. In the future electric age, I hope we can still say that: because it is Porsche, so the driving control is its essence.
In the boring world of electrification, let us "drivers" still find a little sense of driving control.