Porsche is considering merging the Taycan and Panamera model lines into single line comprised of petrol, PHEV and battery-electric variants, reported Autocar. This comes as part of the wider cost-cutting measures by CEO Michael Leiters after a downturn in global sales and costs incurred due to the decision by former CEO Oliver Blume to wind back the manufacturer’s electrification plans, the report wrote.
At present, the Panamera in its third generation is built on the MSB platform which Porsche shares with Bentley for the Continental GT, and this is due to be succeeded by the PPC (Premium Platform Combustion) architecture.
Meanwhile, the Taycan is based on the J1 platform that it shares with the Audi e-tron GT, and the next-generation Taycan was expected to switch to the SSP Sport platform, though this has been delayed.
As costs of developing dedicated battery-electric models put pressure on profitability, Porsche is reportedly reconsidering the long-term viability of running the Panamera and Taycan model lines as separate engineering programmes.
Autocar cited sources as saying that the manufacturer is exploring possibilities in terms of more widespread parts sharing and a common identity, even if their respective successors use different platforms.
The latter approach is used with the Macan, which has the ICE-powered version sold alongside the latest EV model of the same name, albeit named Macan Electric. This approach will apply to the latest PPE-based Cayenne Electric as well, which will be sold alongside the existing, third-generation internal combustion-engined versions.
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