After much reluctance, Porsche is now open to offering Android Auto

Porsche could leave the ranks of automakers who resist Android Auto, Digital Trends has learned exclusively. The German firm is open to offering Android Auto integration on at least some of its upcoming models, but it hasn’t provided a specific time frame.

Michaela Ensinger, the manager of electrics and electronics for Porsche’s SUV line, told Digital Trends that Porsche primarily decided not to offer Android Auto compatibility in any of its cars because a majority of its customers owned an Apple device when Google released the software in 2015. There was some demand for Android Auto, especially in the United States, but it wasn’t high enough to justify adding the feature to models like the Panamera and the Cayenne.

The Cupertino, California, tech giant’s smartphone hegemony has waned, and in 2018 there are enough Porsche customers using an Android device for Porsche to look into adding Android Auto. Some of the firm’s models could be compatible with Android Auto “in the near future,” Ensinger told us. She stopped short of confirming when the feature will become available, or which model(s) will be the first to offer it. Every single member of the 2018 Porsche family is compatible with Apple CarPlay.

Details like the cost of adding Android Auto compatibility to a Porsche will be available closer to the feature’s release, assuming it gets the final stamp of approval. To add context, customers who want to add Apple CarPlay to the redesigned 2019 Macan (pictured above) need to pay $360. It’s standard on the entry-level variants of the Panamera, the Cayenne, and the 911.

Until the feature arrives, motorists are able to link their Android-powered smartphone to their Porsche via a platform-agnostic app named Porsche Connect. They can open the app to remotely check whether the doors, the tailgate (when applicable), and the windows are closed, and to lock or unlock the car. The software also provides information like the oil and fuel level, plus maintenance data such as when the next service needs to be performed. Finally, it lets owners link the Macan with an Amazon Music account.

Porsche isn’t the only car company whose models aren’t available with Android Auto. Toyota and Lexus, its luxury division, are barely warming up to Apple CarPlay but there is not a single model made by either firm that’s compatible with Android Auto as of December 2018. That will change soon, according to insiders, and Android Auto compatibility will become available in the “not-too-distant future.” Contacted by Digital Trends, Toyota declined to confirm or deny the rumor. Lexus told us a full 80 percent of its customers have an Apple-powered device in their pocket.

Porsche sister company Bentley is Android-free as well.

Porsche Taycan Can Add 62 Miles of Driving Range in 4-minute Charge

Porsche's upcoming electric sedan will have a charging time quicker than any other vehicle on the market today. 

Current battery and charging technology make refueling an electric car significantly longer than filling up a traditional gasoline-powered car at the pump, which is Porsche has been actively working to improve this with its upcoming Tesla rival: the Taycan.

In a recent interview with publication Welt am Sonntag (via Bloomberg) the automaker revealed that it has made significant progress in cutting the time spent at the charger, enabling the Taycan to add up to 62 miles of driving range in just four minutes.

Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says that its charging is so fast that the Taycan will gain up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) of range in just four minutes, or an equally impressive 248 miles of charge (400 km) in less than 20 minutes. Though this certainly isn't as speedy as filling up at the pump, four minutes to gain 62 miles of range is nothing to gawk at.

Using its 800-volt, ultra-fast chargers, Porsche is able to provide a charge significantly faster than other automakers currently on the market. Fast charging the Taycan using Porsche's chargers provides a constant 350 kilowatts of power to the car. In comparison, the current fast-charging network king, Tesla, can deliver up to 120 kW at its Superchargers, though Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that its next-generation Supercharging platform will close the gap. Porsche has partnered with Audi, BMW, Daimler, and Ford to begin rolling out a fast charging network and overcome its own charging density shortcomings.

Blume also briefly spoke about Porsche's goals with future battery technology. Though he estimates that the tech is roughly a decade from market release, the German automaker expects to squeeze around 620 miles (1,000 km) out of a single charge with even less time at the plug.

Other manufacturers have joined in with similar claims in the past; Panasonic (Tesla's main battery partner) provided a similar timeframe for market fruition earlier this month. Volkswagen also recently invested $100 million into a solid-state battery startup to ready its offerings ahead of launching even its first generation EV platform.

Porsche 911 Wins Five Reliability Awards From German Experts

The Porsche 911 has emerged victorious in five categories in the annual German TÜV report – the first time in history that a single model has taken first place in all age categories.

“Porsche simply builds engineering that endures,” was the conclusion of the Technischer Überwachungsverein (TÜV) survey, which was based on 8.8 million inspections carried out between July 2017 and June 2018.

TÜV is the testing body responsible for safety testing in Germany, covering many different products, and the test ensures that vehicles are safe for travel. A positive conclusion from the AutoBILD TÜV Report is a big deal – it’s like receiving no advisories on an MOT test many times over.

The 991 ranked first in the ‘two- and three-year-old’ and ‘four- and five-year-old’ used car categories, while the 997 was the victor in the ‘six- and seven-year-old’, ‘eight- and nine-year-old’ and ‘10- and 11-year-old’ classifications.

In response, a statement from Porsche read: ‘The fact that the Porsche 911 came out top in the TÜV report is in no small part due to Porsche’s commitment to quality in its sports cars.

‘Porsche won coveted trophies in seven categories of the renowned JD Power 2017 studies on automotive reliability, with two of the prizes awarded to the 911, in recognition of the model having the fewest defects and a particularly striking design.

The new 992-generation Porsche 911 will make its debut at the forthcoming LA Auto Show at the end of November, with our man on the floor to bring you the latest news and gossip.

Development of the 992 will continue over the winter, before the new 911 hits the streets at the beginning of 2019.

Porsche's Taycan Won't [Totally] Break the Bank

Porsche's Taycan Electric will be fast, quiet, and under $100,000.

On Wednesday, Porsche announced that it was to price its new four-door electric sports car, the Taycan (originally called the Mission E0, at $92,500. The four-door Taycan is priced between the Panamera and Cayenne, which are both also four-door vehicles. The German automaker believes that if the Taycan is priced this way, they will be able to move upwards of 20,000 units annually. They expect this to be a challenge in an increasingly crowded performance electric space.

"Taycan" is Turkish for "lively young horse," and the Porsche Taycan is expected to be more sports car than sedan, with a rakish coupe roof. It is electric, but not at all slow as it boasts two permanently excited synchronous motors that generate more than 600 horsepower. The Taycan can reach 155 mph, and accelerating from zero to 62 mph takes just 3.5 seconds. In the initial European testing, the car's range was more than 310 miles.

Stefan Weckbach, who’s in charge of developing the Taycan range, said in an interview on the company website, “It was clear from the beginning that an electrically powered Porsche—like every other Porsche model—must be the sportiest vehicle in its segment… It’ll clearly be a Porsche at first glance, because we’ve transferred the design DNA of Porsche to our future electric vehicles.”

According to Sam Abuelsamid, an auto analyst at Navigant Research, the price is not unexpected. “It really needs to be in this range to be competitive with the Tesla Model S,” he tells Penta. “Granted, this is a Porsche, so it should be possible to drive the price up considerably through the options list.”

The Taycan will have an approximately 90-kilowatt-hour battery, with 400 cells. Using a 350-kilowatt charging station, Porsche says it can add 62 miles of range in four minutes. That very fast charging—which could add 248.5 miles of range in 15 minutes—is made possible by the VW-funded Electrify America initiative, which is planning installations at 300 highway locations “from 2019.”

By the end of June 2019, Electrify America, which is investing $2 billion over 10 years, said it will be able to supply an interconnected network of about 12,500 chargers. Porsche is also looking at wireless charging—via a floor-mounted plate—for the Taycan.

Porsche says it will invest $6.8 billion in going electric by 2022—double its original estimate. As much as $573 million will go to developing variations on the Taycan. A higher-performance version could be priced at $229,000, Lutz Meschke, Porsche’s chief financial officer, told Automotive News Europe. Some$1.14 billion will go to electrify and hybridize the existing product line. And $800 million will be spent on such technologies as charging infrastructure and smart mobility.

In the Volkswagen Group’s electric plans, Porsche’s Taycan complements the Audi e-tron, a luxury battery SUV that arrives next year; and, from VW itself, the I.D. CROZZ (a crossover SUV, due out in 2020), and I.D. BUZZ (a reinterpretation of the Microbus, aimed at 2022). Both VWs will be built in the U.S.

Porsche Does Away With Diesel

The German automaker decides it’s ‘going green.’

Porsche announced on the 24^th of this month that it will no longer produce cars with diesel engines. Instead, the luxury auto brand owned by Volkswagen, will be focusing on expanding its offering of electric and hybrid vehicles.

This is the latest blow to the diesel engine in Germany following the Dieselgate scandal from three years ago, in which VW was caught cheating on air pollution emissions tests in their diesel vehicles by using ‘defeat devices.’ Diesel-powered car sales have plummeted since, and diesel owners fear a collapsed resale value.

It has been a rapid fall from grace for a fuel once thought of as the climate-friendly alternative to petrol, or unleaded gas, because it produces less carbon emissions. The problem, which has become increasingly clear over the last ten or so years, is that that are worse than petrol when it comes to air pollution. The cheating, it is alleged, was done in order to make diesel cars seem like they were emitting the same pollution as petrol-fueled vehicles.

Porsche, in its statement today, said it does not want to “demonize” diesel engines and that it would continue to care for its diesel cars already on the road and in the market.

“It is, and will remain, an important propulsion technology,” said Porsche 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.”

The share of diesel-powered cars in the Porsche fleet currently stands at 12% worldwide. The company has not had a diesel vehicle in its portfolio since February of this year, but it waited until this month to end the manufacturing of diesel vehicles an official policy.

The company said it will now focus its efforts and money formerly spent on diesel on electric vehicles. Porsche is set to introduce its first fully-electric car next year, called the Taycan. By 2022, Porsche plans to have invested more than 6 billion euros in electrifying its vehicles. With the new focus, the German-based company said half of its products could be e-cars by 2025.

“Our aim is to occupy the technical vanguard – we are intensifying our focus on the core of our brand while consistently aligning our company with the mobility of the future,” said Blume.

The company also said that like other automakers, it has seen demand for diesel models dropping. On the other hand, interest in hybrid models is increasing. 63% of the Panameras sold in Europe right now are hybrid models.

Although Porsche is a small player in the German auto manufacturing sector, other carmakers will be closely watching this move as they wonder whether they, too, should ditch diesel.

Car Rental Application Makes It Easier to Drive Your Favorite Porsche

The Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer is launching its pilot program that makes it easy to rent your favorite Porsche by the push of a button.

The service offers short-term access to Porsche vehicles owned privately individuals. Following the introduction of the "Porsche Passport" subscription model last year, this latest development is the next step in the process of developing new rental concepts.

Porsche Host is a peer-to-peer car sharing program, and has been developed by Porsche Digital, Inc. working in collaboration with it's partner Turo. the program will begin and be available in Los Angeles and San Francisco via the Turo app and the website from October 8. This will open up the Porsche driving experience to short-term users in addition to those who own a Porsche. Vehicles can be rented for a period of one day all the way up to one month.

Turo was founded in 2009 and is based in San Francisco, California. It is a car-sharing marketplace that allows drivers to hire vehicles owned by private individuals. The vehicles available via the "Porsche Host" program belong to Porsche customers who have been specifically trained in how to provide the premium experience that is typical of Porsche to the drivers who are looking to rent their sports cars. 

"Partnerships with innovators like Turo are the key in ensuring that we can turn our vision into reality and provide our customers with completely new Porsche experiences," says Thilo Koslowski, CEO of Porsche Digital, Inc. And he adds, "By working with our partners, we are able to develop new mobility offerings and business models."

"The collaboration with Porsche is a fantastic opportunity to reach a large number of enthusiasts via our marketplace," explains Andre Haddad, CEO of Turo. "I have always been a Porsche fan myself, and I enjoy the feeling of handing over the keys to my own 911 to another Porsche connoisseur for a short time." 

Visit Brands Hatch’s Porsche Festival this weekend

Want to see Porsche’s best road and race cars all in one place? 

Porsche's Club Great Britain and Brands Hatch is set to host a celebration of Porsche's 70-year history this Sunday with the Festival of Porsche, featuring racing, displays, and demonstrations of classic and contemporary examples of the German marque's cars.

The event is organized by Brands Hatch circuit owner MSV, in association with and the support of Porsche Club Great Britain and Porsche Cars Great Britain. In addition to the on-track action, it will boast everything from examples of the 356, Porsche's first-ever production automobile, to the Spa-Francorchamps and Nurburgring track record-breaking 919 Hybrid Evo.

Stuttgart’s Porsche Museum has sent the 1949 ‘Keibl Gmund’ 356 and the 2018 919 Hybrid Evo, which is currently on a 919 Tribute Tour celebrating the success of the 919 Hybrid LMP1 car that won the Le Mans 24-hours and World Endurance Championship for three years in a row between 2015-’17 before withdrawing from the top class of prototype racing.

The Evo, which has multiple aerodynamic modifications compared with the racing car, was developed by Porsche engineers as a tribute to that success. It set the fastest-ever times around Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the hands of Neel Jani and Timo Bernhard earlier this year, and may well do the same at Brands Hatch with 2015 Le Mans winner Nick Tandy.

A 2.0-litre turbocharged V4 engine powers the Evo, and recovers brake energy from the front axle and exhaust energy from the rear. The combustion engine drives the back axle, while the electric motor boosts the front axle to accelerate the car with four-wheel drive. The additional usable energy available from the recovery systems and extra downforce from the aerodynamic modifications have meant that Michelin had to develop new tyre compounds to deliver the necessary grip to complement the increased power.

Other iconic Porsche cars present include a Gulf-liveried 917, which was driven to third in the 1971 BOAC Brands Hatch 1000km race by Derek Bell and Jo Siffert, the 1998 Le Mans-winning 911 GT1 and the 959 Paris Dakar rally car, which competed in the 13,800km rally raid across the African continent.

In addition to the famous cars, a number of Porsche personalities will also take an active part in the event. Leading the on-track action will be Tandy and Bell, along with current Porsche Carrera Cup GB Junior Dan Harper, who won his drive in a shootout last year and will demonstrate the latest 911 GT3 Cup race car.

Road-car celebrations centre around the Porsche Boxster. The mid-engined roadster was released 20 years ago, and was a distinct change from previous Porsche models. To celebrate this milestone, there has been a nationwide campaign to locate and restore ‘Type 986’ Boxster S models.

The cars were not only restored, but also prepared to race in a dedicated three-round Restoracing Championship, of which the Festival will be the finale. The livery of each car resembles a classic Porsche race car, from the red and white Salzburg livery of the 1970 Le Mans-winning 917 to the 1971 Pink Pig.

Race fans will enjoy a full on-track program at the Festival on September 2, including the Porsche Club Championship, Porsche Club Speed Championship and a four-cylinder Challenge for Transaxle models. There will also be a live stage within the Porsche Club marquee, and extra off-track attractions including trade stands, a fun fair and live music. The on-track schedule of racing starts at 10:00am until 6:00pm.