Porsche readies cheaper, entry-level Taycan

The Porsche Taycan is about to get a bit more affordable — if you can get your hands on one.

The German sports car maker is expanding the full-electric Taycan lineup in the U.S. with a new entry-level variant.

Badged the Taycan, the rear-wheel-drive version starts at $81,250, including a $1,350 shipping fee. It will arrive in U.S. stores in the spring.

The base Taycan will be available in two battery configurations and deliver up to 300 miles of driving range, based on Europe's Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure, or WLTP.

At launch, the car was offered in high-powered, high-priced Turbo and Turbo S versions. Those models arrived in late 2019 with starting prices of $154,860 and $188,960, including shipping.

U.S. demand for the Taycan has been brisk since the launch. The EV was Porsche's third best-selling car in the U.S. in the third quarter.

For all of 2020, Porsche delivered 4,414 units — a number that would have been far higher were it not for the coronavirus pandemic.

A COVID-related six-week factory shutdown last spring complicated Porsche's rollout of the "milestone" model in the U.S. — its launch market.

"That six-week window was very much reserved for fulfilling the U.S. demand," former Porsche Cars North America CEO Klaus Zellmer told Automotive News in May. "We had to take thousands of cars out of our sales plan for [the] year that we will not get into the United States and Canada."

The base Taycan, equipped with the standard Performance battery, delivers up to 402 hp. The optional Performance Battery Plus boosts it up to 469 hp. The Taycan accelerates from 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds and has a top track speed of 143 mph.