Meet Taycan, Porsche’s first all-electric sports car and Tesla’s latest challenger

Porsche chose Niagara Falls to introduce its new Taycan all-electric sports car on Wednesday. Stefan Weckbach, the company’s vice president for electric-drive cars, is so confident that the Taycan holds a unique position in the marketplace that he calls it “the world’s first fully electric sports car.” There’s the latest hot new toy factor to consider too. Car & Driver, Road & Track, Motor Trend and the rest of the car enthusiast magazines will be putting the Taycan up against the Model S and a number of other performance cars, both electric and liquid-fuel, to see whether the electric Taycan truly possesses what the company calls “Porsche DNA.” Long-term, customer demand for the car will tell the tale. “We decided it’s worth transferring the heritage of internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.” Before Taycan development began in 2015, the company considered making electric versions of the Cayenne, the Macan, or the Boxster two-seater, but decided if it was serious about an electric future, it would have to build an electric car from scratch. Because the battery fits along the car’s bottom, Porsche designers could pencil in a flat hood with a “flyline” roof that angles toward the back.