The Porsche Taycan Is the 2020 Design of the Year
A leading light for Porsche in nearly every way.
There is nothing surprising aboutAutomobilechoosing a Porsche as our Design of the Year. But that the model we honor is a four-door sedan and doesn't have an engine, well, that might be a little startling to most of our readers. Yet we stand with the simple credo set out with our first issue 34 years ago: No Boring Cars. And, believe it, there's nothing at all boring about the Taycan. It is in fact a truly important car, as important to automotive history as was that feeble little Volkswagen hot rod put together in an Austrian lumberyard more than 70 years ago, leading inexorably to this excellent battery-powered electric automobile.
Electricity and the technology of its application was important to Ferdinand Porsche, paterfamilias of what has become one of the world's most important prestige car companies. His Löhner-Porsche automobile was almost a full century ahead of Honda's and Toyota's popular applications of the hybrid concept; his mid-engine formula race cars were decades ahead of the Cooper and Lotus racers that ultimately transformed serious car racing worldwide. The good professor left this world 69 years ago, but his name shines even more brightly today than it did during his lifetime.
Porsche AG is now a part of the Volkswagen Group, a result of a lot of fancy but unsuccessful financial maneuvering intended to make all of VW part of Porsche, and today it makes more SUVs than it does sports cars. But all of its products are seriously engineered, and they are probably the world's best-made serially produced vehicles, with nearly perfect fit, finish, and reputation. The company earned the reputation quite legitimately, so it is truly significant when a carmaker with so much to lose embarks upon an adventure that breaks entirely with the past and puts it on an uncharted path.
The Taycan line is Porsche's third sedan, after two generations of the Panamera; both versions of the latter are really excellent cars whether equipped with gasoline or diesel powertrains. Performance and quality made them highly desirable, though, not their appearance. The first edition was less than beautiful, the second improved slightly but was definitely not a styling leader. All the intangible virtues they possess are part and parcel of the Taycan, too, but it has another attribute that is far more important: It strongly and convincingly resembles the half-century-old 911 line, which to most people is Porsche.
More than any other model Porsche has ever produced, the Taycan captures the famous 911's roof profile, side glass shape, downward sloping nose, and solidly planted stance. It is also closest to the Erwin Komenda designs that began at Auto Union with Porsche, from the Type 64/VW 60K10 that is now claimed to be the first Porsche (it isn't really) and on to the Type 356 that put Porsche into the manufacturing business under the family name.
That's quite a heritage to live up to, and we think the handsome Taycan honors it well. Front overhang is quite long, actually longer than the rear, surprisingly, but it does not seem at all excessive. The substantial opening under the nose ingests cooling air—electrical machinery generates heat in operation exactly as does internal-combustion machinery—and more is taken in below the headlamps. The headlamp fairing and the black inverted "L" shape including the vertical inlets is a strong visual identity mark for the Taycan. Hot air is exhausted down the body sides just at the leading edge of the front doors, where there is a notable mismatch between the convex lower portion of the fender cross-section and the considerable indent at the bottom of the doors. The two separate panels are tied together visually by a dark trim piece on the fender side with a sort of speed streak flowing back toward the door handles but disappearing halfway down the length of the door skin.
