Want to buy a new Porsche with a diesel? Too bad, because the German automaker stopped making them earlier this year. And now it's announced that it won't offer any oil-burners in the future, either.
The announcement was made against the backdrop of Porsche's increasing investment in electrification. The automaker notes that 63 percent of the Panameras that it's sold in Europe, for example, are hybrids. Compare that to the 12 percent of its worldwide sales last year were diesels, and the case for discontinuing their availability seems far clearer than their emissions.
Porsche was hardly immune, either, from the diesel emissions scandal that rocked the entire Volkswagen Group of which it is part. The controversy cast diesel propulsion in general, and from the VW group in particular, into negative light from which the German industrial giant is still struggling to recover.
Though it never sold diesel versions of its two-door sports cars, Zuffenhausen previously offered the Macan, Cayenne, and Panamera with diesel engines. The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 in the Panamera 4S Diesel, for example, packed 416 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque, propelling it to 62 mph in 4.3 seconds and on to a 177-mph top speed.
“Porsche is not demonising diesel,” disclaimed CEO Oliver Blume. “We as a sports car manufacturer, however, for whom diesel has always played a secondary role, have come to the conclusion that we would like our future to be diesel-free. Naturally we will continue to look after our existing diesel customers with the professionalism they expect.”
Already offering one of the widest ranges of plug-in hybrid models, Porsche is betting big on the launch of the Taycan – its first purely electric vehicle, which is set to launch next year. The company projects that by 2025, fully half of the vehicles it sells will be electrified to some degree or another.
