
Porsche's Taycan EV has pulled in more than 20k deposits - clouddrover
https://www.engadget.com/2019/03/09/porche-taycan-ev-20-000-reservations/
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lazyjones
Did Porsche change the terms on these deposits? When they were announced,
local magazines reported (correctly) that these "reservations" don't reserve
anything, all Porsche owes the payer is regular information about the vehicle.
In particular, they don't affect the deliveries in any way.

They're basically refundable deposits with no obligations on either side, so
20.000 wealthy people either misunderstood the terms or paid to receive
newsletters.

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BoorishBears
Sounds exactly the first Model 3 reservations... sans securing the beta build
of a car (which is a plus for some)

Maybe they just really want the car and can afford a deposit.

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mikeash
Securing a spot in line was the whole point of Model 3 deposits.

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amscanne
IIRC, the order of deliveries depended on state and the specific build and
options. This was clear up front.

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braythwayt
Perhaps you are both correct, and the reservation secured your spot in line.
Not a global line for all Model 3 sales, but a small line for your particular
combination of build and options.

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mikeash
Yes. Having a reservation let you order earlier. All else being equal, an
earlier reservation let you order before a later one, but there were other
factors as well.

I saw both sides of this, placing a reservation and then ultimately waiting
for a version that didn’t require one. I did get a chance to order before it
opened up to the general public, but I didn’t take advantage.

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charlesdm
I'm 100% sure the interior of this car will have a much better finish than a
Tesla. A Tesla inside just feels cheap to me.

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gcb0
porsche can be worse than an 80s cheap honda when they want to, so get them
down of that high horse.

for proof, go see a 1999-2006 carrera 911/996.

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noisem4ker
Which details should I look for, exactly?

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costcopizza
Quality of plastics is the main thing. I don’t think it’s as poor as people
hype it up to be.

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braythwayt
Related: Polestar, Volvo's spinoff, is also taking deposits on their Polestar
2, which they also position against Tesla's Model 3:

[https://www.polestar.com/](https://www.polestar.com/)

Price is higher than the Telsa, but you could take the view that just like
Porche, they bring Volvo's experience--good or bad--at running a sustainable
manufacturing business to the table.

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jcims
Call me superficial, insecure, vain, pathetic, etc. There's no way I'm driving
around in a car called the Polestar. It's just not happening.

~~~
braythwayt
I'm not sure why you find the word so troubling.

Polestar have been racing Volvos for a decade, and Volvo have been selling
Polestar editions of their cars very successfully. "Polestar" is essentially
Volvo's performance branding, just like AMG for Mercedes and M for BMW.

I personally like the V60 Polestar, it's a nice little 360hp wagon. I have a
Polestar engine tune on my personal wagon.

As for the word itself... Volvo is from the Nordics, and culturally the Pole
Star is a significant and positive term:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_star](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_star)

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pavlov
These numbers don’t mean much. There are plenty of people willing to put down
a bit of refundable cash for their electric car dreams.

A tiny Canadian company called ElectraMecchanica has over 40,000 paid
reservations for their Tofino electric roadster ($1k deposit each). Does that
mean they’re going to be twice as successful as Porsche?

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rad_gruchalski
The difference being that Porsche Taycan is going to happen and the owners are
going to benefit from the overall Porsche service infrastructure.

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pavlov
Sure. Just saying that 20k deposits is actually low by “electric dream
machine” standards.

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rad_gruchalski
They initially announced only 20k cars to be manufactured. The reservations
prompted them to double the number. That’s exactly the point of the article.

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kensai
Well earned. The car is beautiful, even in the renderings. If it succeeds, we
could expect an electric 911 in 4-5 years. Who knows.

~~~
justtopost
The iconic shape and design of the 911 is dictated by its engine placement. I
feel with an electric drivetrain, a new design would be needed. A design copy
of the 911 would be lazy and regressive. The abilities and packaging of
electrics are amazing. Too amazing to sacrifice for looks. And I say that
still perfering petrol cars.

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tyingq
It might still sell well. Drive a new Camaro or Challenger, and you'll see
they heavily sacrificed driver visibility for the sake of better emulating the
old look.

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ghaff
So many vehicles these days have really lousy sightlines. I rented some Dodge
sporty car a few months back and I almost felt unsafe driving because I didn't
have a good view when changing lanes.

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rad_gruchalski
These "sporty" muscle cars are designed for drag racing. No need to change
lanes there! Just look up the marketing for Charger Demon. It's not a bug,
it's a feature ;)

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wlesieutre
I wish they'd suck with Mission E as the name, but it's a nice looking car
either way

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eastendguy
I sat in the Taycan at a Porsche sponsored conference last year. The design
feels so plain normal and boring to me. The Model 3 design is 1000% more
innovative. I am convinced that car museums in the future will have a Model 3
on display, but not a Taycan.

That said, if you like Porsche, the Taycan gives you a Porsche with an
electric motor. That is the only innovation I can see here.

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pampa
I took once a Tesla-taxi from Schiphol to Amsterdam center. It had a huge
touch screen console and the driver could not enter the destination into the
carnav because of some annoying modal pop up.

If turning a car into a crappy pc/tablet is innovative then yes. But some
people just like to drive their cars (by themselves)

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m3kw9
For people expecting Tesla like software, upgrade experience, user experience,
they will likely be disappointed. Otherwise you should just expect nothing
much more than a Porsche that has an electrical drive train

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rsync
"For people expecting Tesla like software, upgrade experience, user experience
..."

That sounds like a potential selling point ...

"Otherwise you should just expect nothing much more than a Porsche that has an
electrical drive train ..."

For me, the killer features are the CoG and weight distributions of a
"skateboard design", achieving AWD with multiple motors, and the
acceleration/torque advantages of an electric drivetrain. It appears that the
Porsche has all of those.

