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John Mahoney30 Jun 2020
NEWS

Basic rear-drive Porsche Taycan unwrapped in China

Single-motor electric Porsche offered with two battery sizes and a range of up to 488km

UPDATED 30/06/2020 5:00pm: Porsche has advised the new rear-drive single-motor Taycan variant is not yet confirmed for Australia.

“Porsche Cars Australia remains focused on the Taycan 4S, Taycan Turbo and Turbo S, which are on-sale now and will arrive in Australia from December 2020. We are yet to confirm the Taycan two-wheel-drive model for Australia at this time,” said PCA in a statement.

A new entry-level rear-wheel drive version of the upcoming Porsche Taycan could finally see the pure-electric German sedan match the Tesla Model S on pricing.

Currently, the cheapest variant of the ground-breaking EV, which arrives in Australia in December, is the twin-motor all-wheel drive Porsche Taycan 4S priced at $191,000.

That's a sizeable chunk of cash more than the similarly sized Tesla Model S, which is priced between $140,000 and $165,000, but the new entry-level Taycan, unveiled in China overnight, could land smack-bang in the middle.

The new Porsche Taycan range opener comes with a single-deck Performance Battery that has an energy density of 79.2KWh.

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That, claims the car-maker, provides up to 414km between charges when combined with the rear axle-mounted Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PSM) that produces 300kW in overboost mode.

Want more range and Porsche will oblige, adding a larger double-deck 93.5KWh power pack that ups the range to the headline 488km.

The bigger, more powerful battery also brings a larger rear motor that produces 350kW in overboost mode, plus Launch Control.

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Against the clock, the rear-drive Taycan is claimed to sprint to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds and top out at 230km/h.

Despite being the cheapest model in the range, the rear-drive electric Porsche still comes with the same 800-volt electrical architecture as the Taycan 4S, Turbo and range-topping Turbo S.

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The most basic model also keeps the two-speed transmission, PASM (adaptive dampers), PDCC (active anti-roll bars) and PTV Plus (active mechanical limited-slip diff) as seen in the more expensive models.

One added benefit for the most miserly Porsche Taycan is that without a front-mounted motor, boot space increases from 488 to 491 litres.

In China, the cheapest Porsche Taycan has been priced from 888,000 yuan ($A179,000).

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