The new Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo

Porsche is expanding the product portfolio of its first all-electric sports car range with the addition of the versatile Taycan Cross Turismo version.

The new Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Photo by Porsche AG

The new Taycan Cross Turismo features all the strengths of the Taycan, such as superior performance and long-range. In addition, there is also more headroom for rear-seat passengers and a maximum luggage compartment capacity of more than 1,200 litres behind the large tailgate. The chassis with standard all-wheel-drive and the air suspension is height-adjustable. The Taycan Cross Turismo will be launched on the market in the summer of 2021. It is anticipated that the five largest markets for this version of the Taycan will be United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, the US and Sweden.

Purist exterior design with Porsche DNA
The visual appearance of the Taycan Cross Turismo is closely based on the Mission E Cross Turismo concept study presented at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2018. In particular, its silhouette is defined by the sporty, falling roofline towards the rear - called the flyline by Porsche designers. The off-road design elements include wheel arch trims, unique lower aprons at the front and rear as well as the side sills. In combination with the Off-Road Design package, the Cross Turismo has special flaps at the corners of the front and rear bumpers and at the ends of the sills. These make for a striking exterior as well as providing protection from stone impacts. Like the Taycan sports saloon, the new Cross Turismo also features innovative elements such as the glass-effect Porsche lettering in the light bar.

Unique interior design with a wide display band
The highly praised design contours familiar from the Taycan sports saloon can be found in the interior: the wing-shaped upper and lower sections of the dashboard stretch across the entire width of the car. The free-standing, curved instrument cluster forms the highest point on the dashboard. A central 10.9-inch infotainment display and a further, optional front passenger display are combined to form an integrated glass band in a black-panel look. A compass mounted on the top of the dashboard is optionally available.

Innovative chassis systems
The integrated Porsche 4D Chassis Control analyses and synchronises all chassis systems in real-time. Porsche uses a centrally networked control system for the chassis of the Taycan Cross Turismo. Adaptive air suspension with three-chamber technology including the PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) electronic damper control system is fitted as standard to all Taycan Cross Turismo models. The air suspension includes a Smartlift function as standard. This allows the customer to easily programme the system so that the ride height is automatically raised at certain recurring locations such as road humps or garage driveways. Such positions can be stored by simply pressing the chassis button.

The Gravel mode driving programme
The Taycan Cross Turismo comes as standard with the additional Gravel mode driving programme for journeys on light off-road terrain such as gravel tracks or muddy road surfaces. In this mode, the ride height is raised by 30 millimetres compared with the saloon. Gravel mode also influences the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), Porsche Traction Management (PTM), Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV+) and Porsche Stability Management (PSM) chassis systems, as well as the rear-axle transmission. The shift operations of the latter are optimised to ensure maximum traction. The car's throttle characteristics have also been designed especially for off-road driving in terms of power delivery and control precision.

Large battery with up to 800 volts as standard
The Taycan Cross Turismo operates with a system voltage of 800 volts (voltage range 610 V to 835 V) instead of the 400 V that is usual for electric cars. The standard two-deck Performance Battery Plus contains 33 cell modules consisting of 12 individual cells each (396 in total). The total capacity is 93.4 kWh.

Flexible upgrades after the purchase with Functions on Demand (FoD)
Thanks to FoD, Taycan drivers can purchase various convenience and assist functions as required. What makes this approach special is that this option is also possible after the vehicle has been bought, and availability does not depend on the sports car's original configuration. It is not necessary to visit a workshop thanks to online activation. This is currently possible for the Porsche Intelligent Range Manager (PIRM), Power Steering Plus, Active Lane Keeping and Porsche InnoDrive.

Automatic chassis lowering for even better aerodynamics
Thanks to optimised airflow characteristics, the aerodynamic design, which boasts a Cd value from 0.26, makes a significant contribution to low energy consumption, and therefore to long-range. The measures relating to Porsche Active Aerodynamics (PAA) include the adjustable air intakes at the front. The air suspension also allows the frontal area and Cd value to be reduced at higher speeds by lowering the Taycan Cross Turismo in two stages. The roof spoiler at the rear is fixed.

Innovative drive motors and two-speed transmission
All Taycan Cross Turismo models have two electric motors, one fitted on the front axle and a second on the rear axle, and therefore have all-wheel drive as standard. Both the range and the continuous power of the drive benefit from the high efficiency of the permanently excited synchronous motors. The electric motor, transmission and pulse‑controlled inverter are each combined into a compact drive module. The possible recuperation power has been increased once more. At up to 290 kW, this is significantly higher than the recuperation power of competitors.

Mathias Haegglund Code Collector, Globetrotter, and Occasional Gamer.