I think one misstep from a business pov, was targeting the sports car market for their EV shift. I love EVs, and racing. EV racing is a different beast from what Porsche customers in particular expect. They will need a configuration as novel as the boxer engine.
On the one hand ICE sports cars still have the cool reputation, but that reputation is slowly going to get a bit tarnished as more and more get smoked by "mom's shopping car" (as newer EV's come on the market) at the drag race. Ultimately electric motors are the superior technology here.
Oddly, steam had some very interesting properties too, but for motor vehicles was ultimately let down by practicality and possibly power-to-weight ratio if I recall correctly.
ICE of course was always about convenience and a lot of energy in a small tank. As batteries improve, this advantage is being worn down.
Meanwhile, in trains, "hybrid" (diesel-electric) and electric are the two main types left. There's simply a lot to be said for 100% torque at 0 RPM.
EVs often have great acceleration, so I would think it would be a natural fit for the sports car market. Even the ordinary ones are a lot more fun to accelerate on a freeway onramp than an ordinary 4- or 6-cylinder gas engine.
For sure, your average quick-off-the-mark, around-town EV is way more fun to drive than your average four banger.
But, I've been in a Model 3 Performance and a Taycan 4S and experienced the ~3s electric 0-60, and... it's just ghostly, linear motion, nothing like the feeling of the non-linear jerk and jolt-punctuated ride you get with a powerful ICE and manual transmission.
The M3P in particular was so shockingly video game-like it almost felt dangerous, as though I didn't really realise just how fast I was going until it was too fast.
Your "typical" performance car customer wants a monster noise from the engine. A visceral sound. If it sounds like a jet fighter taking off, even better. There's no "authentic" sound to replace it.
As someone who cycles a lot, I can heartily recommend larger wheels and strong legs if you really need to slice through the traffic at 30mph.
But I do agree that personal electric transportation should be able to travel at >15mph on suitable cycle tracks, seeing as it ain’t that hard for pedal bikes to do those speeds.
They will soon be illegal in the EU and, I suppose, the UK. Not in most other regions including North America and Asia.
Porsche's mistake lies in forcing all of their other customers, worldwide, to accept products designed to satisfy EU regulators. Lowest-common-denominator engineering has never been why people buy Porsches, but these days the engineers at Porsche take a bus to work, where they report to people who were chauffeured there.
>Porsche's mistake lies in forcing all of their other customers, worldwide, to accept products designed to satisfy EU regulators.
Porsche can not afford to keep ICE development afloat just for the US market and a few others. There is no economic case for keeping ICE Porsches around when they can capture only a very small amount of the market. It is also preposterous to have engineers build cars in such an environment.
Well, I guess that's pretty much it for Porsche, then.
Meanwhile, there are other companies that don't seem to be voluntarily adopting similar constraints. The age of the "World Car" is over, and Porsche's only chance is for their management to confront that reality.
Blume was the CEO of Porsche and VW up until weeks ago, when he gave up the title of Porsche CEO. VW is extremely invested into making regional cars, something which Blume heavily emphasized.
This is not about management not knowing, it is about the realities of Porsche as a company. Going back to ICE, just to habe Cars American consumers may want more, is not an option.
