Taycan Cross Turismo Travels to Five Countries in Five Climate Zones

Porsche’s biggest question this month following the launch of the Taycan Cross Turismo seems to be, what if you ignored the traditional format for a new car launch that normally consists of hundreds of thousands of kilometres of secretive testing, followed by high-profile media events and instead, give the world’s media a glimpse behind the curtain? 

Before the world premiere of the Taycan Cross Turismo, the company sent a prototype of the model on a test drive across the continents for eight-weeks. Journalists from different countries were specifically chosen to be behind the wheel. 

Throughout the eight-week test drive, the Turismo visited five countries in five different climate zones. This trip allowed the model to perform in extreme temperatures and on many different surfaces. The model started its journey in the deserts in the US and then headed to the wintry wilds of Norway. This was followed by the United Kingdom before the car returned to mainland Europe, Amsterdam and finally arrived in Germany. The very same Cross Turismo drove onto stage for Porsche’s live international launch event.

“To us it made perfect sense because you always have these super shiny cars on stage at world premieres,” Wienkötter explains, “so to have a dirty and partially camouflaged car is much more eye-catching. It’s been on different continents, in different climate zones and on different surfaces, and has collected different types of dirt and grime – all of which we wanted to preserve to tell the story of the car.”

Due to Corona-related travel restrictions, the car could not travel with its usual team of engineers who normally accompany a prototype on any international mission. 

“Usually, without the travel restrictions of a pandemic, we would follow the car during its developments process, but since that wasn’t possible, we had to come up with another idea,” said Spokesperson Taycan & E-Mobility, Mayk Wienkötter. “We figured the five biggest markets would be the most interesting, in part because they happened to be in different climate zones, which helps to tell the story of the car.”

Despite feeling slightly nervous about the mission, he stated that the one thing that helped him sleep at night was confidence in the product. 

“It was a very late prototype, which helps, and since it is derived from the Taycan saloon it is actually a really mature product already. And that paid off. We didn’t have any technical problems at all,” he added.