Porsche debuted its E Cross Turismo at the Geneva show, and while the Macanesque electric SUV won’t reach production until 2021, the concept car did provide us with a first look at the interior of next year’s Mission E electric saloon.
Mixing some traditional Porsche design cues with the latest tech, the Mission E features a traditional instrument binnacle but with a TFT screen displaying five digital dials. A floating centre console is a further evolution of the glass control panel first seen in the 918, and a third screen is positioned in front of the passenger.
Left: E Cross Turismo’s high-tech interior will be seen in the 2019 Mission E saloon. Below: Turismo’s pair of motors will be good for more than 600bhp.
DESIGN Cross Turismo adds an estatestyle rear end and a taller stance to Porsche’s Mission E coupé-SUV
“Porsche claims the car sprints from 0-62mph (0-10kph) in less than 3.4 seconds; faster than a 2018 Tesla Model X 100D”
DISPLAYS Touchscreens allow front passengers to operate apps on the infotainment display, as well as adjust satnav and climate control settings.
PORSCHE’S PRODUCT REVOLUTION
Forget air-cooled or water-cooled. Don’t worry about compulsory turbos or the Great manual versus PDK debate. All of those controversies are positively piffling compared to the monumental upheaval Porsche will experience in the next five to 10 years.
We’ve reported previously on Porsche plans to launch its first all-electric car, a production version of the Mission E concept. This month comes firm news that Porsche is doubling down on Mission E by doubling up on its plans to invest in electrification to the total tune of a cool six billions euros. We now also learn that Porsche is also said to be considering the notion of not replacing the 718 Boxster and Cayman twins at the end of the current cycle.
All this is taking place against the backdrop of the VW emissions scandal, the prospect of much tougher real-world emissions tests and the advent of driverless car technology. In short, the entire auto industry is in a state of unprecedented flux as product planners attempt to divine which way the market will turn and how fast technologies will develop.
Indeed Porsche has recently been caught a little flat footed by unexpected demand for the hybrid versions of its new 2018 Panamera. Porsche’s battery supplier is struggling to keep up with the influx of orders leading to longer delivery times of customer cars of three to four months. That surprise success, not to mention knowledge of the raft of new electric cars planned by sister companies in the VW Group and competing brands like BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover, is no doubt implicated in Porsche’s decision to dramatically up its investment in electro-mobility.
But the main takeaway from all of this is that what you might call enthusiast concerns – for instance, whether the next GT3 has a manual gearbox or turbocharging or the comparison between the 718’s flat four and the Cayster’s old flat six – look rather quaint in the context of the huge upheaval and monumental investment and technical effort Porsche will be putting in over the coming years. Odds are, a decade from now Porsche’s product portfolio will be virtually unrecognisable.
