Porsche will construct its electrical 718 sports activities automobile due mid this decade on the identical manufacturing line because the gas-powered 911, the automaker stated on Thursday.

The manufacturing line is situated at Porsche’s primary plant within the Zuffenhausen space of Stuttgart, Germany, and is the place Porsche additionally builds the present gas-powered 718. Since 2022, Porsche has additionally been constructing the gas-powered 718 at a Volkswagen Group plant in Osnabrück, Germany, because of capability limits in Zuffenhausen.

The electrical 718 will not be the primary EV inbuilt Zuffenhausen. Porsche additionally builds the Taycan on the plant.

Porsche additionally stated on Thursday it would construct electrical drive techniques for the upcoming electrical Macan on the plant. The electrical Macan is due early subsequent yr and might be constructed at Porsche’s plant in Leipzig, Germany.

Porsche Mission R idea

Porsche will make investments round 250 million euros (roughly $271 million) to arrange the Zuffenhausen plant for the electrical 718. Among the many upgrades might be an enlargement of the plant and new manufacturing techniques that Porsche stated will assist enhance effectivity. A current effectivity enchancment was the introduction of automated gliders on which in-progress builds are moved across the plant. This eliminates the necessity for a standard manufacturing line and helps makes issues extra versatile, which Porsche stated is advantageous for constructing automobiles with two totally different powertrain sorts on the identical line.

The electrical 718 has been noticed testing in prototype kind and appears to have a design much like the Mission R idea from 2021. The electrical race automobile idea can be thought to preview the know-how of the electrical 718.

As an alternative of the favored skateboard-style EV platform the place a flat battery pack is situated within the automobile ground, the Mission R idea makes use of a T-shape battery that sits within the areas the place a mid-engine automobile’s engine and heart tunnel would usually sit. Such a structure permits designers to maintain the peak of the automobile low whereas additionally delivering weight distribution much like a mid-engine automobile, and that is probably the route Porsche will take with the electrical 718. Maserati plans the same technique with an electrical model of its MC20 supercar.

Relying on how the market evolves, Porsche plans to supply the present 718 alongside the brand new electrical 718 for a interval, maybe with updates. The automaker is predicted to do the identical with the Macan following subsequent yr’s arrival of the electrical model.