Porsche’s 600bhp all-electric Mission E is going into production

As part of the VW Group’s big electric drive comes a Porsche with, um, big electric drive.

The Stuttgart firm has today confirmed it will put the Mission E – its 600bhp all-electric four-seat concept, revealed earlier this year – into production, promising ‘a new chapter in the history of sports cars’.

A bold claim, but if the production Mission E lives up to the considerable promise of the Frankfurt concept, potentially a justified one. That car made ‘over 600bhp’ from an electric motor on each of its axles (so it’s four-wheel drive), with Porsche promising a 0-62mph time below 3.5 seconds, and a range north of 300 miles.

The lithium-ion battery pack could be 80 per cent recharged within just 15 minutes, so long as you’ve a high-intensity charger.

Today’s announcement gives no suggestion the production Mission E will deviate from these figures, with Porsche promising the car will reach the road ‘at the end of the decade’.

With the Mission E’s electric motors to be built in-house, Porsche will invest over 700 million euros expanding its Zuffenhausen facility, creating over 1,000 new jobs in the process.

“With Mission E we are making a clear statement about the future of the brand,” said chairman Dr Wolfgang Porsche. “Even in a greatly changing motoring world, Porsche will maintain its front-row position.”

In size terms, the Mission E is likely to slot between 911 and Panamera. A starting price of around £100,000 was mooted earlier this year, but with four years before the Mission E reaches production, that figure could shift in either direction.

“Potential Porsche full-electric car customers don’t only want to drive fast,” Porsche’s Stefan Weckbach told us at the unveiling of the concept. “They want to charge fast too.”

If the Mission E can solve the issues of limited range and slow recharging that have, to date, hampered electric sports cars, it could prove as revolutionary as Porsche promises.

Despite the VW Group’s threat to delay or cancel ‘what isn’t absolutely vital’ in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal, it looks to be going full steam ahead in its bid to out-Tesla Tesla in the electric car market.

Of course, for all those who blew a gasket when 911s went from air- to water-cooled, the announcement of an e-Porsche might cause catastrophic seizure.

So, a 600bhp, all-electric four-seat Porsche. Sacrilege or genius?