Porsche’s Seven-Seat Electric SUV Will Be Very Big, Very Expensive

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Good morning and welcome back to The Morning Something, The Autopian’s daily roundup of the news that matters most in the world of cars. It’s Wednesday, which is the same thing as Friday, if you believe hard enough. On today’s docket: Some apparent details emerge on Porsche’s next EV, which is due to be very voluminous; President Joe Biden defends the Inflation Reduction Act at the State of Union address; Subaru has EV plans now, too; and Tesla has a new “Master Plan” coming soon.

Porsche’s K1 Project Is A Big Deal, Literally

Taycan Emblem
Photo: Porsche

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, because I’m not, one thing that’s cool about Porsche is that it doesn’t really make bad cars. Seriously, what was the last bad Porsche? Maybe the 924, with the underpowered cargo van engine? Or the 968, which was kind of half-assed? But even those are very cool and have plenty of their own merits. The point is, when Porsche sets out to do something—like an SUV or an EV—the end result is usually going to be pretty great. Even if you’re anti-crossover, would you really say no to a weekend in a top-shelf Macan? I didn’t think so.

So when Porsche says it’s going to make a big, seven-seat electric SUV next, I have faith that the German automaker will make it a good one. That’s what’s next on the P-Car docket, reports the UK’s Autocar. It’s called Project K1, “a very sporting interpretation of an SUV.”

When it arrives, the advanced four-wheel-drive flagship will head a growing Porsche line-up, consisting of seven individual models. The K1 will offer the latest in synchronous electric motor, high-performance battery and rapid-charging technology – developments that, insiders at the company’s Zuffenhausen headquarters in Germany say, will extend its price well beyond the £150,500 of the existing internal-combustion-engined Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT.

Already three years in conception and planning, the new Porsche model aims to build on the success of the Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Macan, Porsche’s two best-selling models over the past two decades, as well as last year. The K1 is intended to support this trend with a combination of sportiness and utility that, it is hoped, will appeal to customers in its two largest markets: North America and China.

That’s about $180,000 in America-money, at the current exchange rate. So this thing will be something like a Mercedes EQS SUV competitor, and it’ll start quite a bit higher than the current Cayenne—which only has five seats.
Autocar says this thing will have “a unique silhouette with a short bonnet by Porsche standards, a steeply raked windscreen and a curved roof that extends into a liftback-style tailgate,” and an adjustable ride height for all the off-roading its owners will inevitably be doing. (Kidding! Obviously kidding.) Expect this SUV out in 2027 and some prototypes and concepts before that.

Biden Defends Inflation Reduction Act In SOTU Address

Joe Biden
Last night’s State of the Union address—which involved a lot of back-and-forth yelling as if Congress is the British Parliament now—included a fair bit of football-spiking by President Biden, who’s seeking to hype his legislative record in the likely event he runs again. (He’ll be 82 when that happens, but hey, maybe you really are never too old to do something.)
That included touting the Inflation Reduction Act, which, among many other things, reset the EV tax credit scheme and heavily incentivizes automakers and battery companies to manufacture in America so that China doesn’t dominate the supply chain. Here’s Automotive News on his remarks, including what his Republican opposition had to say:

“We’re going to make sure the supply chain for America begins in America,” Biden said in a speech late Tuesday from the nation’s capital.

[…] Though Biden said more must be done to support steady U.S. growth and lower costs, he pointed to a resilient economy, with public and private investments in manufacturing and infrastructure continuing across the U.S. and inflation showing signs of improvement.

“Jobs are coming back. Pride is coming back because of choices we made the last several years,” Biden said. “This is, in my view, a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America.”

[…] In response to Biden’s remarks, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., blasted Biden’s “rush-to-green agenda.” She said Republicans will continue their oversight of how the Biden administration implements the Inflation Reduction Act, arguing that the law “embraces massive government subsidies and regulations to place unreliable, weather dependent renewables above all other energy sources.”

“It fails to reduce the regulatory, permitting and licensing barriers that hamper the deployment of American energy and infrastructure, like hydropower, advanced nuclear and natural gas export terminals and pipelines,” said Rodgers, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Biden also said he would veto any efforts to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. That tidbit is important for a lot of reasons, including the fact that building a battery and mining infrastructure in America is going to be a very long-term project.
Certainly, the credit scheme has been a mess so far, but if the battery provisions alone are left in effect, it’s a hard reset on how the entire EV ecosystem could work.
Now, if a Republican takes office in 2024? It’s very easy to see the IRA getting killed (or gutted) much like Obama’s Affordable Care Act did, and then who knows what happens to all of the car and battery companies putting money into development now because they’re banking on massive tax subsidies for years.
Basically, a lot will be on the line with EV production and infrastructure in the 2024 election.

Subaru’s Big EV Push Starts In 2025

Subaru Solterra 2023 1600 1a
Photo: Subaru
Speaking of EVs, after years of hesitancy and hoping hydrogen power could be a thing, the Japanese automakers are finally starting to get moving in that direction. That includes Subaru; you’d think Subaru’s crunchy, granola-loving crowd would be totally game for electric cars, right? And while Subaru is small, it prints money and it’s tight with Toyota these days, which helps spread battery costs around.
Here’s Automotive News on Subaru’s EV catch-up plan:
“Our main electrification strategy centers on strong hybrids and electric vehicles and introducing such models in the U.S. by 2025,” Tomoaki Emori, senior vice president of the corporate planning division, said at the company’s Wednesday quarterly earnings announcement.

“When we look at the U.S. market situation, we will need to offer several models in our EV lineup,” he said. “We have shifted our weight toward that in our development.”

Emori did not offer details about the upcoming EVs, but they would be in addition to the only full-electric vehicle currently in the lineup, the Solterra crossover co-developed with Toyota. Subaru said last May that it wants to derive 40 percent of its global sales from battery electrics and hybrids by 2030 and apply electrification to all models in the early 2030s.

“The U.S. accounts for 75 percent of our total sales,” Emori said.

“Given that, we will move ahead with our electrification strategy by responding to U.S. environmental regulations, legal and market trends.”

Anyway, Subaru makes a ton of U.S.-market vehicles at its Indiana plant, but no word yet on whether that factory will see a big battery investment to take advantage of IRA rules.

Tesla’s New ‘Master Plan’

It’s that time again! Time for Tesla to make some big pronouncements to gin up its stock price and cash from reservations on cars (and robots?) that may never happen. Okay, that’s a little harsh, but it’s not wrong.

We will, however, get some big Tesla news on March 1, its Investor Day presentation in Austin, Texas. In the past, such Master Plans have outlined the path from the Roadster to the lineup Tesla has today; and then where Tesla stands on buses, trucks, autonomous tech and duds like the Boring Company. So what’s in Part Three? Here’s some analysis from The Verge, emphasis mine:

Tesla has already said that it would reveal concrete details about its next-generation vehicle platform during its Investor Day event. The company is working on a refreshed version of the Tesla Model 3 as well as a robotaxi designed to be a shared vehicle.

Robotaxis and the next-gen platform will for sure get more fleshed out during Musk’s presentation. Given his focus on scaling Tesla’s operations to extreme size, we should expect some mention of the long-promised $25,000 EV. And some mention of the company’s controversial Full Self-Driving system and how it will plan into Musk’s stilted vision of an autonomous future is all but guaranteed.

The stuff I bolded above is the really important part. Tesla’s current EV lineup is excellent, spec-wise, and now selling strongly again thanks to recent price cuts. But it’s old, and the competition is catching up quickly. The coming years will test Tesla’s ability to be the EV volume leader, not just in America but globally. It badly needs new, fresh products in the pipeline, and real ones, not magic sports cars that run on rocket thrusters to save the environment with sustainability. Announcing a new platform will be a big deal.
As for “robotaxis”: given the garbage year the autonomous driving industry had in 2022, it seems like Musk is the only real true believer left standing there. Or at least one of the last few voices to claim your passenger car will be “self-driving” in the near future.
I know I’ve been generating $30,000 in annual passive income by deploying my Model 3 as a robotaxi, and it’s been a nice windfall since I started in 2020. Haven’t you been doing that too?

Back To You

What do you want to see from Tesla’s Master Plan presentation? All snark aside, I think the smart play is to announce two or three new crossovers—one that should replace the aging and silly Model X—plus a new sedan of some kind. And finally, an actually affordable EV like The Verge mentions above. Just outline the product roadmap for the next few years the way Stellantis sometimes does, and stick to it.

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64 thoughts on “Porsche’s Seven-Seat Electric SUV Will Be Very Big, Very Expensive”

  2. Am I just poor and don’t know it? My wife and I make a lot of money but the prices of these cars seems insane. I guess we could afford it but you’re talking about a 2k/mo car payment. Even the BMW X5 starts in the 60s. I know those are ‘luxury’ models, but still seems insane.

    Of course the new Mazda is easily into the 60s too. Maybe I’m just old and cheap.

  3. Please allow me to make a weird comparison between Tesla and VW (of the 50s-60s)…

    Both entered the industry with a largely new paradigm. Both had a few basic models that didn’t change much for years. Both had good brand recognition. Both had an almost cult-like following.

    The end game for air-cooled VW is that after about 25 years of doing the exact same thing with incremental changes, everyone else advanced far past what VW was still doing by 1973. Is that what will happen to Tesla?

    1. “Dude, they got it so right the first time it took the competition this long to even figure out what an electric vehicle is, dude! And the changes are so awesome they can’t be appreciated by little ICE’d sheeple, dude! Wait a second, you’re fronting for Big Oil trying to smear Tesla and Our Lord Elon! I’ll pwn you by buying more Tesla stock I believe so hard! Wanna see the screenshot? No? Well, fine, troll!” /s

      Ouch, that snark was painful to type.

      Tesla will have to do what VW did and alienate their hardcore fans to adapt and survive with new products that are different from their current ones. While they’re vocal, they’re a minority. At that point the board will have no choice but to deal with the Elon in the room. What the market will want is different from what the Chief Twit gets told from within his bubble. Grab your popcorn and get ready, it’ll be a fight to watch.

  5. OK, I’m going to say it. Porsche styling is dull, dull, dull. Time for some fresh ideas, guys. There’s only so far you can take the upside-down bathtub look and after 60 years it is played out! Let’s get creative.

  6. Given the number of manufacturers releasing gargantuan SUVs, I’m frankly very surprised that none have decided to offer a six door model yet. Maybe even throw in a fourth row of seats. It’s as if the marketing people just don’t understand what an arms race is.

  7. “short bonnet by Porsche standards, a steeply raked windscreen and a curved roof that extends into a liftback-style tailgate”
    So, an MPV/minivan? By the way, kudos to whoever (didn’t see a credit) chopped the Taycan front onto the Cayenne/Macan (who can tell and who cares?) but that thing is exquisitely hideous.

  9. A lot of the requirements for the new EV credits and junk from that plan are based on North America, not America or USA, it includes Canada and Mexico. The majority of manufacturing and jobs related to the credits that companies are banking on will create jobs in Mexico prolly more than the US.

  10. At this point it wouldn’t surprise me if this BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is just a slide show of Elon’s dick pics at assorted angles…and yet there would still be idiots fawning over his “genius”. The dude could charge $420.69 for a tub of excrement with a Tesla logo on it and weird terminally online nerds would still line up around the block to buy it and rush home to post about it 9000 times and go defend God Emperor Musk in every comments section they can find.

    I don’t care what about whatever weird sci fi vaporware this bag of hot stinky air is announcing. Until he steps down as CEO I’m never considering one of his products. Maybe he’ll announce that that’s what he’s doing. A man can dream…

  11. Elon is going to announce suspended production and sales of all electric vehicles in favour of his latest ‘moon shot’: teleportation. And he’s going to claim it is net power negative, teleportation generates power. And it will be ready in 18 months. Really.

  13. I’d say they need a new SUV and refreshed Models 3, Y, and S and a small inexpensive CUV. They won’t do that, Elon will have many far less rational ideas to share.

    1. This has literally never happened. “Entry level” Porsches have always hovered pretty close to the median household income in Murica price wise. I love Porsche, but their entire business is making toys for the 1%. They usually have an aspirational car in the lineup that average Joes might be able to get into as a stretch purchase if they play their cards right (944, Macan, etc) but it’s usually a watered down version of the full Porsche experience.

  15. Tesla’s $25,000 car will be a small 4-seat hatch with a front mounted FWD diesel 2-stroke engine. No screens, manual wipers and the doors will magically open when you push on them like kitchen cupboards (because they will use the latches from kitchen cupboards).

    He’ll promise Tesla branded biofuel demonstrated by what is transparently a man in a biofuel suit, and the first 2 years production will immediately sell out, then be delivered n+3 years late (where n is twice the number you first thought of).

    Also he’ll announce that Dany Bahar will head up a new combined product development and PR department.

    Plus something silly.

  16. “But it’s old, and the competition is catching up quickly.”

    Truly, Patrick, you have mastered the understatement in a way I never have been able to.
    The Porsche Macan is ‘old’ having received it’s last styling refresh in 2019. Tesla’s entire model lineup is positively antiquated, having last received a refresh in (checks notes) NEVER. And meaningful under the skin improvements in (checks notes) ALSO NEVER.
    The differences between a 2012 (development started in 2007) and a 2022 Model S consist of “we lied about new battery technology” and “we changed some code.” Oh, and decontenting. Because nothing adds value like taking things away. And that’s the same for the technology.

    It is not an exaggeration to say Tesla’s motor and battery technology is 10 years behind, because it’s just a statement of fact at this point. Your 2022 Model S is the same as a 2012 Model S. Forget having ‘caught up.’ Combine Melon’s incompetence with institutionalized ego problems and resting on their laurels, and everyone and their brother has blown by them.
    Forget 0-60 times, forget the ‘kWh’ metrics. The Porsche Taycan is an 800V architecture, the rear PSM motor weighs a whole 374lbs and can do 550Nm and 16,000RPM. Tesla’s ‘best’ offering needs 3 motors weighing over 100lbs each, very expensive hacks that reduce durability by orders of magnitude, a ridiculous amount of additional cooling weight, and is still a 400V architecture. Nevermind the painfully dated styling that has lost all cachet.
    Kia’s E-GMP is 800V. GM’s Ultium is 800V. Ford’s already said 400V was basically a ‘get to market’ by hacking up an old ICE platform, and future platforms will be 800V. (Yeah, good luck doing that after firing all the engineers.) Manufacturers are only using 400V these days to hit cost targets, and all of those 400V cars are on 400V-800V platforms.

    “Robotaxis and the next-gen platform will for sure get more fleshed out during Musk’s presentation.”

    So they’re going to have a human in the car but costumed as a car seat, while Muskovite spews complete nonsense that he’s physically incapable of comprehending. None of which will be delivered this decade.

    “What do you want to see from Tesla’s Master Plan presentation?”

    Musk being carted off stage on a stretcher and someone actually competent admitting the facts. Which are that the whole dog and pony show is bullshit, the Roadster is never coming and the $50k deposits were plain old fraud, the Cybertruck isn’t coming this year or next and might not come at all, Captain Spaz has left them with nothing in their back pocket, and the only realistic things left on the table are finally doing some beyond overdue styling refreshes, incremental updates, finding some way to improve quality, and drastically cutting costs.

    Instead what we’ll get is a pack of lies, probably some more plain old fraud (“now taking deposits for the Model 3 Megaplaid with 2000HP and 5000V coming 2024!”,) a fraud patting himself on the back till he dislocates his shoulder, and more completely unhinged crap about Twitter.

    2. “And meaningful under the skin improvements in (checks notes) ALSO NEVER.”
      They did, however, make the sensors worse by removing radar and ultrasonic sensors in favor of just relying on cameras. So they at least made a meaningful update, I guess. It just went the wrong way.

  17. What do I want out of Tesla’s Master Plan presentation?

    Well, I’m not an investor in the company, so I’m not all that concerned with their profitability or product line gaps or anything like that. I don’t need a crossover, so I’m not all that interested in the Model Y. I don’t need a minivan* so I’m not interested in the Model X. And I’m not really a sedan guy, so the Models 3 and S don’t appeal all that much to me. I don’t want the vaporware Tesla Roadster that costs a quarter million and might be able to fly or float or whatever. I don’t want a stupid yoke steering wheel. I don’t want allegedly bulletproof windows or a design straight out of one of my old PS1 games. I don’t want a car that claims to drive itself but really can’t.

    What I’d like to see is a true small car that’s not a penalty box. An electric “hot hatch” if you will. I don’t need a racecar. I just want the equivalent of a Golf GTI with a battery (ideally 2 real doors and a hatch). Equivalent to no more than 250 or so horsepower (anything more than that is… ahem… ludicrous). Just something that’ll take me to the office in style and comfort, something that will handle a Costco run worth of cargo without any trouble.

    Nobody really makes those kinds of cars anymore, probably because there’s little demand for them, but I sure would like something like that.

    *I do respect the “emperor’s new minivan” situation with the Model X, though. Seating for 7, stupid rear doors, low ground clearance — that’s not an SUV; that’s a minivan. But through hype and a 6-figure price tag, Tesla has tricked people into thinking it’s cool. Good for them.

    1. I think the same thing about Toyota 4Runner headlights and C7 Corvette taillights. All of those cars look like they got drunk, cried in the ladies room of the bar, and now their mascara is running.

      1. The K1 looks like the designer was distracted by a spouse who just texted they want a divorce while spending an afternoon sketching in a room covered in sad-clown wallpaper.

        Maybe The Bishop or Adrian can clean this up for Porsche.

  19. “What do you want to see from Tesla’s Master Plan presentation? All snark aside…”

    Those last three words don’t leave much to work with here.

  20. I want that $25K Tesla to be a 2door hatch. I want $25K to be for the stripped down short range RWD model. I would love to find a long range AWD Performance model around $35-40K.

    What’s that saying about wishing in one hand and crapping in the other?

  23. What do I want to see from Tesla’s Master Plan?

    1. Elon is no longer CEO
    2. A new vehicle platform that can provide a car/SUV smaller and cheaper than the 3/Y platform
    3. Realistic Cybertruck information
    4. US Supercharger network opened up to all EVs
    5. Massive supercharge network expansion.

    IMHO, the Cybertruck will start strong with a long waitlist. Then sales will drop until Tesla redesigns it to look more like a regular truck.

    1. I still don’t understand why people still care about the CyberTruck, unless you’re TechBro looking show off at CrossFit & Coffee (Non-fat soy)… but didn’t they all get laid off this year?!?! With the Rivian, GM & Ford EV trucks isn’t Tesla too far behind to be relevant at this point?

      1. All of those just started shipping to consumers recently. If the Cybertruck could show up in 2023 in some realistic form it would still be relevant.

        I don’t think it’s going to happen, but in our happy little hypothetical world it might.

  24. Elon Musk: “On March 1 I’m going to announce a whole new version of vaporware that may or may not come true in the next 5-10 years after I tell you it’ll happen in 2 years…”

  25. Just my “hater” and “short” opinion here, but a mature and profitable company shouldn’t need to resort to tricks like customer deposits for products that may or may not be coming.

    Hoping we are past that. Deliver or just say the Cybertruck/Semi/Roadster 2 are concepts.

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