Porsche & Audi ramp up debut electric car production

Porsche and Audi are planning to expand their production capacities even before the market launch of their first electric car models due to the high demand. Porsche even speaks of doubling their output of the all-electric Taycan and to expand to another facility on top.

++ Kindly also see the update below ++

Instead of the 20,000 units previously planned, Porsche wants to produce 40,000 Taycans per year at its new plant in Zuffenhausen, Germany. Since Porsche capacities in Zuffenhausen would be exhausted at 40,000, a second location may soon become necessary. The Porsche plant in Leipzig has the best chances of being required to ramp up production, according to a report by Automotive News.

Audi is also apparently planning to increase capacity at the Brussels plant in 2020 due to high demand for their e-Tron. “Demand for the e-Tron is developing positively. For this reason, we are constantly reviewing our production capacities and adapting them to the market situation if necessary,” Audi Brussels Managing Director Patrick Danau informed Automobilwoche. For now, this would mean a production increase from 20 to 24 vehicles produced per hour from 2020. With 20 cars per hour in two-shift operation and an assumed 220 production days, Audi can currently build around 70,000 e-Tron cars per year.

Having been presented in California mid-September, Audi’s first electric car hit the 10,000 figure for reservations shortly after. However, deliveries were last delayed so that Audi reportedly had to postpone the planned mass roll-out in Europe to now begin in March.

For Porsche, their Taycan is well on track and they have begun expecting non-binding reservations for 2,500 euros. The Tesla competitor is Porsche’s flagship for pushing forward with their electric offensive and already in October, they announced that they were doubling down on this effort. Deliveries to customers are to start in early 2020. The price of the first Porsche electric car is not yet known but estimated to range around the 100,000 euro mark.

Update 24 January 2019: Porsche has now confirmed that they will be doubling the production capacity for their first electric model Taycan from 20,000 to 40,000 units per year. Andrew Lennon, responsible for product communications at Porsche North America, told CNBC, “We had the ability to increase capacity from the beginning, and executives recently made the decision to go ahead.”

automobilwoche.de (in German), cnbc.com (update)

Additional reporting by Nora Manthey.