2021 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo debuts – roomier, capable of mild off-road, up to 761 PS and 1,050 Nm!

Porsche has finally unveiled the Taycan Cross Turismo, some three years after its concept was first shown to the world. In these pictures, the shooting brake body style is well proportioned and looks utterly stunning. Who said they couldn’t do better than the Panamera Sport Turismo?

The new electric GT is defined by its falling roofline, which Porsche designers call the “flyline.” It also gets black-painted body claddings to accentuate the practical aspects of the car. If you hadn’t noticed, Porsche has done a lot of dirt driving with the Taycan Cross Turismo (evidenced by the press photos you see below), and there’s even a bespoke Porsche bike carrier designed just for it. More on these, below.

If you’re really the kind to use the car for outdoor activities, you can opt for the Off-Road Design package, which comes with special flaps at the corners of the front and rear bumpers and at the ends of the side sills. These flaps provide protection from stone chips, so they’re not all for show. Roof rails are optional (can fit a third bicycle here!), and there are three new wheel designs for the Cross Turismo.

Inside, the cabin is pretty much identical to the regular Taycan. The triple display setup is retained, and the optional fourth display for the front passenger dash is available as well. Those who specify the Off-Road Design package will get a compass installed on top of the dashboard.

Of course, with it being a shooting brake, the biggest change takes place in the rear quarters. Thanks to the modified roofline, Porsche says there’s 47 mm more headroom for rear passengers, and the boot opening is wider than the sedan version. Boot space is now 446 litres (406 litres on standard car), which expands up to 1,212 litres with the rear seats folded flat (60:40 split). The front compartment (bonnet) offers an additional 84 litres of space.

The Taycan Cross Turismo comes with a partial leather interior as standard, which can be upgraded to classic leather or the sustainably tanned Club Leather OLEA, which uses olive leaves in the tanning process. Conversely, a leather-free cabin can also be had – this option uses a high quality microfibre material called Race-Tex, the production of which emits 80% less CO2 than traditional materials. The floor covering uses Econyl fibre made from recycled fishing nets, among other things.

There are four variants of the Taycan Cross Turismo available from launch, and they all feature two motors and all-wheel drive as standard. Since they share the exact same powertrain setup as the Taycan, the output and performance are pretty much the same. Let’s start with the base Taycan 4 Cross Turismo.

The entry-level model offers 380 PS as standard, or 476 PS and 500 Nm in overboost or Launch Control mode. It does the 0 to 100 km/h sprint in 5.1 seconds, tops out at 220 km/h, and has a range of 389 km to 456 km (WLTP cycle). Above that is the 4S with 490 PS (571 PS, 650 Nm on overboost), which does the century dash in 4.1 seconds. Top speed is 240 km/h, and has a range of 388 km to 452 km on a full charge.

Next up is the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo. It makes 625 PS (680 PS, 850 Nm on overboost), allowing it to sprint from standstill to 100 km/h in a blistering time of 3.3 seconds. Top speed is limited to 250 km/h, and it delivers a range of 395 km to 452 km.

The powertrain on the range-topping Turbo S also makes 625 PS, but in overboost mode it gets amped up to make 761 PS and a staggering 1,050 Nm of torque. That’s enough power to send the 2,320-kg athlete rocketing with a century sprint time of 2.9 seconds. Driving range is sacrificed slightly here, doing about 388 km to 419 km on a single charge. The front motor uses a single-speed transmission, while the rear motor gets the more sophisticated two-speed transmission.

Now, all models are fitted with the same two-deck 93.4 kWh Performance Battery Plus (which operates at a standard system voltage of 800 volts), and the cars are shipped with an 11 kW onboard charger as standard (upgradable to a 22 kW unit for a fee). Like the regular Taycan, there are two charging ports here as well, one for AC charging and the other for DC.

Charging at 11 kW will juice up the battery in nine hours, but if you have access to a 50 kW DC charger, a 30-minute charge is enough to get you 100 km of range. The Taycan can take up to 270 kW of ultra fast-charging as well, which takes just under 23 minutes to charge the battery from 5% to 80% (under optimum conditions).

Now, new to the Cross Turismo variant is the fifth drive mode – Gravel. This alone increases the car’s suitability for mild dirt driving, especially on rougher unpaved roads. Power delivery is precisely controlled via the rear two-speed transmission, cleverly distributing torque to provide optimal grip at all times.

The Turbo and Turbo S get rear-axle differential as standard, which provides much more locking torque and traction. Gravel mode also influences the setup of the springs and dampers Porsche Stability Management (PSM), Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) and Porsche Traction Management (PTM). The other four drive modes are Range, Normal, Sport, and Sport Plus, all of which are available from the regular Taycan.

Being a luxury electric car, the Taycan Cross Turismo features a host of comfort and assistance systems. The Porsche InnoDrive system includes active lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, swerve assist, and intersection assist (with acoustic warning or braking intervention).

The InnoDrive system also uses data from the GPS system, radar, camera, speed limits and road topology (gradients, bends) to intelligently adapt its driving speed. It can anticipate distances of up to three kilometres, as well as real-time optimisation of the driving strategy. It will even slow the car down as you approach a corner or roundabout.

Now, Porsche spent a total of 325 hours to develop and validate the Cross Turismo’s aerodynamic design. This is on top of the 1,500 hours that went into the optimising the aero on the regular Taycan, and the aero work this time also included the rear bicycle frame.

Speaking of which, there are two bike variants, the first being the eBike Sport. The bike is made with high-end parts such as the full-suspension carbon frame, a new ultra-compact Shimano motor (provides assistance up to 25 km/h), electronic Shimano gear-shifter, Magura high-performance brakes and Magura upside-down suspension fork, Fox rear damper, and LED lights by Supernova.

The second bike is the eBike Cross. As the name implies, it’s a trail bike equipped with larger heat-resistant brake discs, mechanical Shimano shifter, hydraulically adjustable Crankbrothers seat post, and an ergonomic handlebar with Shimano colour display (shows distance, range and speed in real time). These bikes will go on sale later in the year and can be had in three frame sizes – S, M and L.

Production of the Taycan Cross Turismo has started and it will be launched five key markets (US, UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany) soon. So, like what you see here?