The future of PORSCHE "hinges on the success of the Mission E Electric Car"

Past and Future Porsche – the Porsche 356 and Mission E

Porsche is the most successful of the VW Group Companies, but Porsche CEO Oliver Blume has declared that the future of Porsche hinges on the success of the electric Mission E.

On Thursday, Porsche held a celebration at the Porsche Museum of 70 years of the Porsche Sports Car – it all started with the Porsche 356 (pictured above with the Mission E) in 1948 – and looked forward to the next 70 years.

And it seems, according to Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, that the future of Porsche – the most profitable of the VW Group companies – is going to be rather more complicated than the first 70 years.

Rather than simply (well, perhaps not exactly simply) refining their cars and powertrains, the future is going to rely on a more complex mix of Porsches.

Blume sees the future of Porsche as a three-pronged attack on the market, delivering plug-in hybrids, emotional sports cars with ICE, and sporty electric vehicles.

But Blume seems to think that the future of Porsche will only really be secured if it can make a success of the Mission E Electric Supercar when it lands on the market in 2019. In his own words: “The future of Porsche also hinges on the success of the Mission E electric car”.

But acceptance of the Mission E by buyers looks to be a racing certainty, with its up to 670bhp from electric motors, 0-62mph in under 3.5 seconds and the ability to recharge to 80 per cent in just 15 minutes offering a combination of abilities that should prove very alluring to buyers.

And Porsche should be buoyed not just by the interest show in the Mission E, but also by the take-up rate of the plug-in hybrid Panamera, which has mopped up 60 per cent of recent Panamera sales in Europe, demonstrating Porsche buyers’ acceptance of electrified Porsches.