People Are Already Trying To Order The Porsche Taycan

Early bird gets the worm.

Aside from having a new name, we really don't have any details regarding the Porsche Taycan. We have seen the car in concept form, as both the Mission E and Mission E Cross Turimso, but Porsche has not revealed a production version as of yet. However according to Autocar, customers have already started to place their orders before seeing a production version of the car. It seems people are eager to get their hands of Porsche's first all-electric model.

UK managing director Alexander Pollich confirmed that orders for the Taycan have already been taken, but declined to to confirm exactly how many have been placed. “The reaction from customers has been fantastic - from the moment we announced the car to now, when we have asked customers to register their interest for the first cars. The history of Porsche began with an electric car in 1898 and that provides some inspiration and motivation for us. Of course there was a big gap, but we have led with the introduction of hybrids and now we will use our heritage and learnings to offer a class-leading electric car." he said.

It doesn't surprise us that people are eager to own one of the most hotly anticipated electric cars since the Tesla Model 3. Pollich explained that "the next 18 months will be fascinating, as we develop and reveal the car, but what is already clear is that customers are keen. They are talking to our dealers asking how to get to the top of the priority lists and asking to access more information.” Hopefully Porsche can avoid the preorder fiasco that Tesla suffered when it could not meet initial Model 3 demand.

BMW Trying To Stop One Of Its Senior Executives From Becoming Audi’s New CEO

It's called a non-compete clause.

A few days ago we learned Audi wants to hire Markus Duesmann to be its next CEO due to current CEO Rupert Stadler’s legal issues. He’s currently sitting in jail awaiting trial for his alleged Dieselgate role. Needless to say, Audi needs to move on and new leadership is required. Duesmann is well qualified for the job.

He’s an experienced automaker executive who up until very recently was employed by BMW as its procurement director. And that’s part of a new problem. BMW Blog, via German publication the FAZ, reports that BMW is activating its non-compete clause against Duesmann, thus putting his Audi future in jeopardy.

When first reports came out Duesmann was about to jump ship to Audi, BMW immediately released him from its board. However, there’s still a cooling off period, if you will. Although Audi would very much like for him to get started early next year, say in January, BMW could actually force a delay to that start date until October 2020.

This is not something unheard of in the auto industry, especially considering the frequency at which executives, designers, and engineers are poached by competitors. However, sometimes these non-compete clauses are not enacted, or there’s a negotiated settlement allowing for immediate employment at the new company.

In Duesmann’s case, however, that may not happen, and here’s why: his potential future boss, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, was previously employed by BMW only a few years ago. BMW was not happy when he jumped ship, so why would it suddenly feel different towards Duesmann? It doesn’t. In fact, BMW could make an example out of Duesmann for any of its other top executives, saying something like ‘If you jump ship to a competitor, fine. But we won’t make it an easy transition because we legally don’t have to.’ Sounds like BMW is already engaging in that policy.