The astonishingly fast Porsche Taycan is flying out of the showroom, and it’s 100 per cent electric

The Porsche Taycan hits 100km/h in 2.8 seconds, it outsells the 911, Boxster and Cayman – and it’s completely electric.

Porsche’s first fully electric car, the Taycan​

Porsche’s first fully electric car, the terrifyingly fast Taycan, has been such a roaring yet silent success that it now outsells the brand’s most famous vehicle, the 911, as well as its Boxster and Cayman. Even more surprisingly, around half of the people who turn up at the dealership wanting the super-fast EV have never bought a Porsche before.

Porsche Australia says around half of its Taycan buyers are loyal customers who already have a Porsche, or three, in the garage, but the big electric shock has been how many of them are new to the brand, or what the industry refers to as “conquest sales”.

Porsche Cars Australia CEO Daniel Schmollinger says Taycan has represented an enormous growth opportunity in Australia.

“We’re getting totally new customers coming in, because they just want the best electric car, that’s around half of all Taycan buyers, and that’s been consistent – Porsche being electric opens for them a brand that they would have not considered before, but we also have 911 GT3 customers that say, ‘I want to go electric as well’,” he explained.

The Taycan has a range of 485km and can recharge in 22.5 minutes.

“So those customers believe that whatever Porsche is doing, it will be right. So when they buy the car, they actually feel like, yes, this is a Porsche, no matter that it’s electric.

“With the customers who are new to Porsche, their acceptance of it, how much they love the electric feeling of the Taycan, has been amazing. Because of course, there are a lot of people that doubt that an electric car can be a sports car, but you just have to put them into the Taycan and they get it straight away.”

Currently, the Taycan range – which ranges in price from $156,300 to $345,800, and in performance from the base model right up to the truly mind boggling Turbo S version, which can smash its way to 100km/h in 2.8 seconds, faster than just about any shouty super car money can buy – is the third most popular in the Porsche line-up. Australians love their SUVs, and the mid-sized Macan is Porsche’s top seller, followed by the very large Cayenne.

It won’t be long until an EV is the top selling Porsche in the country, however, according to Schmollinger.

“We have the electric Porsche Macan coming and, as long as we can get supply, that will likely be number one for us,” he said.

“At the moment, Australia still needs to roll out a lot more charging infrastructure to support EVs, and to deliver peace of mind to EV owners, but with our customers, we find that more than 90 per cent of them are doing home charging – they buy a car and they buy a home charger as well, so it’s less of an issue for them.”

The Taycan’s lavish high tech interior

While some in the industry predicted that the success of the Taycan would be the death knell of the Porsche Panamera, a similarly sized luxury four-door sedan, but one that is powered by a traditional petrol engine, Schmollinger says it’s not going anywhere.

“It’s just a different concept, the Panamera, it’s got more space, more legroom in the back – I drive one myself and I love it – so it’s a totally different thing, and there are still plenty of customers who want that car,” he said.

“There’s still a need for Panamera, there are customers who want that, who don’t want to go electric yet, so it’s not going anywhere.”

Or not until an electric Panamera arrives, anyway.