Porsche sets its sights on EV future

Porsche North America Product Communications Manager Frank Wiesmann joins Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian live from the LA Auto Show to discuss the company's plans for high performance electric vehicles as well as the importance of their Taycan model.

Video transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Welcome back to "Yahoo Finance Live." Porsche is doubling down on its EV future, unveiling the Taycan GTS at the LA Auto Show. Let's head back out to the LA Convention Center, where Pras Subramanian is standing by with Porsche's product manager. Pras.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Thanks, Akiko. Yeah, we're here at the LA Auto Show, Porsche coming here full force, like you said, five new cars here. But we're talking about a really special one right in front of us. So Frank Wisemann, Porsche Product Communications Manager is here with me. Let's talk about this car here, the Taycan GTS just unveiled. Tell me about this car.

FRANK WEISMANN: Yeah, thanks Pras. Thanks for stopping by. So Taycan GTS is a very exciting debut. The Taycan has been on the market for about two years now. So we've launched the Taycan sedan range from the rear wheel drive car, around $80,000 to start, all the way up to the crazy Turbo S, 2.6 seconds to 60, the Cross Turismo, which is a little more of a rugged crossover take on the car with a new body style, more headroom, more trunk space.

And now the Sport Turismo is our third body style, the same headroom trunk space says the Cross Turismo, but more of a road tune, which fits perfectly with the GTS. GTS, as you know, is the performance focused tier between the S or 4S Turbo models, so a great blend of standard performance options, while still retaining a high degree of everyday usability, comfort, and a car that you just enjoy driving.

With the Taycan, we have a lot of capability to tune different chassis systems and the powertrain to make the car feel more dynamic. And the GTS is the most sportedly calibrated, if you will, car in the Taycan range in terms of its chassis tuning and just the way it's focused on drivers that really enjoy going around a corner, but also still want that utility every day.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Let's talk about the Taycan. You know, that whole product range really put-- sorry. Let's start with the Taycan. That whole product range really put Porsche on the map from an EV point of view, relevance point of view. And even here in California, the Taycan is very popular. So talk to me about this car here, but also just in general the range, the EV range, for Porsche.

FRANK WEISMANN: Yeah so California, we're here in Los Angeles, which we're very excited about to be back here once again, hugely important market for us. If California where a market on, its own country, it would be the fourth largest market in the world for us. And in terms Taycan, 30% of the Taycans we sell in the US are sold in this state, so a huge following, huge appreciation for the car here.

Yes, the car, now that model line is essentially fully fleshed out for the time being, we're really excited about it. We're excited about the response. The challenge we had was making an EV that was built from the ground up. As you know, it's a unique platform. It's not based on anything else. But also making it a compelling car to drive, making it appealing to new customers, but also to true Porsche enthusiasts.

And the response we've been getting is that we've done that well, which we like to hear. But we continue working on the car every day to make it better and better. And the Taycan GTS is the latest iteration of that, 3.5 seconds to 60, but with everyday utility. You can charge it at home. You could charge it in the ever expanding network of high speed chargers, so the best of both worlds. And we're really excited to be in this space with the Taycan and that it's doing so well.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: We'll chat more about the enthusiasts here with regards to EV, and I'm talking about the Mission R right behind me, the electric sports car. I know this is a concept, but are we going to see a world where this is going to be raced, really, in tracks across the world?

FRANK WEISMANN: So those are the exact thoughts we're having. Porsche sells race cars. We saw them through Porsche Motorsport, in this case, in the US through Porsche Motorsport North America. So that's where our racing customers that race in series like the Michelin Pilot Challenge with something like a GT4 Clubsport, or the Carrera Cup North America series with the 911 GT3 Cup car. They are customers of Porsche through Porsche Motorsports.

The Mission R is an outlook on what customer racing in a one make series, where everyone has the same car and same chance of winning depending on how good of a driver they are and how they set the car up. The Mission R is an outlook on what that could look like in a number of years.

So as you said, it's a concept right now. But we're thinking about a potential future with an all electric one make racing series to continue to be able to offer customers that want to go racing an opportunity to do so with Porsche, even when it's no longer necessarily with a combustion engine powered race car.

So this car has technology that won't be out today, won't be out tomorrow. But you may find some of it in a race or road car in the future. Motorsport has always been our test bed. So the Mission R is another step into the future in that direction in terms of sustainable fully electric Motorsport potential at Porsche, because we're always thinking about racing. That's part of the reason what brought us to where we are today.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: So does this Mission R maybe hint at a possible Porsche EV sports car?

FRANK WEISMANN: Not at the moment. Those are obviously thoughts we're having. We're looking at that potential. As you know, the 9/11, for example, has the potential to be made a hybrid in terms of its architecture. But that's not a decision that has been made yet.

When we look at sports cars in particular, we're concerned about weight. We're looking at performance. We want that driving potential in terms of the car's capabilities, but also the enjoyment to be there. So I wouldn't rule it out. But we've not made any decision or announcement on an all electric two door.

The Taycan is our electric sports car right now. And if you've seen the car perform on track, you've, I think, had the chance to drive it. I'm sure you can attest that we're already pretty well established in that space for now. But stay tuned. As you know, we have plans to electrify more cars, more model lines of cars in the future. The Macan will be the next one. We will be showing a Macan EV to the public as a road car in a few years time. And the plan will evolve from there. But stay tuned.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Right, so we're talking about know the Taycan is here. Macan is the next one, you mentioned. Macan is the highest volume seller, I believe, for Porsche. The EV model was announced. What do you know-- what do you hear-- what do we have in terms of details about that car and stating things like that?

FRANK WEISMANN: Yeah, so we said that the Macan would be fully electric the next generation. We recently refreshed the existing car, which will be available for the next couple of years. What we're doing is we're looking at each market and each customer individually in terms of what are the regulations to sell cars, which are ever changing, and something we obviously focus on a lot, and then what are the customers saying.

The EV infrastructure, charging infrastructure, is different from market to market. Legal regulations to make cars road legal are different from market to market. So we're looking at a three pronged powertrain strategy between purely combustion engine cars, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric cars to be able to offer customers in every market that we sell cars in the breadth of ability and offering that we can, so they can make their choice.

And the Macan EV will be the next step in that. Again, we haven't announced an exact date. We'll still take some time. But we have announced that it is coming. And we're looking forward to sharing more details in due course.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: All right, well the whole Porsche product range is here in full force, all the different powertrains. Frank Weisman of Porsche, thank you so much. Really appreciate it, man.

FRANK WEISMANN: Thank you.