Still want to order that Panamera?
Today, Porsche’s Mission E concept was shown to the press at the IAA motor show, signalling the beginning of the mainstream industry’s fightback against the groundswell of Musk emanating from Tesla’s Silicon Valley headquarters. Using technology honed from their 919 Le Mans endurance racers and 918 hypercar, the numbers for Porsche’s putative Model S rival are impressive. Over 600hp, over 500km of driving range, 0-100km/h in under 3.5 seconds and an ultra-fast charging time of 15 minutes to reach a claimed 80 per cent charge, made possible by a new innovative 800-volt system, double the voltage of current electric vehicles.
But side-stepping the technological novelty embodied within Mission E, is the nature of the car’s styling itself. While Porsche to its very fingertips, the production version of this is possibly the first pure electric car likely to become a posterchild, adorning the desktops of youths from Mumbai to Michelstown – (or whatever passes as desktops amongst youths nowadays).
Not only does it blatantly show up the current Panamera for the misshapen lump it so clearly is, but also renders the forthcoming model virtually obsolescent a good year before launch. Who on earth would want a second gen-Panam when you could wait a little longer and stand a better than even chance of having something more like this.
While our in-house design experts critique the finer points of Mission E’s styling, I choose to dwell upon the striking similarity to the cancelled 989 concept we featured here at DTW a couple of months ago. World’s least influential motoring site? Don’t you believe it.
Driven To Write 
I completely concur, there is a lightness to the way this car is shaped that it refreshing and arresting. It’s encouraging for Porsche, although I had quietly been thinking recently that the Macan was not so bad as I had first thought.
“possibly the first pure electric car likely to become a posterchild”
I would argue the BMW i8 got there first.
As to whether it will cannibalise the Panamera’s sales, you’ll have to wait and see a) if it goes into production and b) how much it costs and how practical it actually is.
Personally i would put my money on the drivetrain going into the next gen Panamera (or a variant thereof), and some styling clues trickling through forthcoming models.
Just realised you wrote ‘pure electric’. Still, there should be a fair few contenders before long.
The second image depicting a cityscape looks like a screen shot from Grand Theft Auto V. Still: phwoar, wot a scorcher.
It´s a bag of clichees.
But it’s such a nice bag…
Clichés, maybe, but nicely made. I like the low waistline, the lack of decoration* and the fact that it’s clearly conceived as an electric car, not just an electric drivetrain planted into a combustion car layout.
* I don’t know if it really needs all these air vents, though.
Yes, of course it is, it’s a Porsche. But it’s all so much better applied than recently experienced.
The best modern Porsche creation since the 928. But who still wants to buy now his ugly older brother Panamera ?
It’s definitely a beautiful car, but still I can’t help thinking the nose is a bit too low – it looks rather flimsy compared to other volumes on the car, especially the rounded glasshouse section. It could get away with being a tad tauter.