Should Porsche be advertising the all-electric Taycan on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa?
by Ciprian Florea, onPorsche is revving up to introduce the Taycan, its first all-electric vehicle, and its latest ad for the four-door includes some amazing footage of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure and building in the world. But is this a smart way to showcase an all-electric, green car? Considering that Burj Khalifa was built in Dubai, a place where most wealth comes mainly from oil?
The ad itself is actually cool. It's 2:38 minutes long, longer than the usual commercial, and it shows Burj Khalifa being electrified to display info about Porsche's history.
All while people watch in amazement and use their smartphones to capture the moment. The building projections display some important years in the company’s past, starting with the Lohner-Porsche of 1899, the first hybrid vehicle. It continues with the release of 356 in 1948 and the 911 in 1963. It then jumps to 2013 and the 918 Spyder supercar and then to 2014 and the Le Mans-winning 919 Hybrid race car.
It also emphasizes that "every Porsche ever built has a soul" before introducing the Taycan with the caption "get ready for the first all-electric sports car with a Porsche soul." It then displays images of the Taycan in action before the entire building lights up in white, showing the Porsche logo. Mighty impressive for a publicity stunt, but a bit hypocritical to do it on Burj Khalifa. This building is the symbol of Dubai, a city located in the United Arab Emirates, a country known for its wealth from oil- and gas-related revenue.
Of course, it’s not completely wrong to showcase electric cars on Burj Khalifa, but let’s face it, wealthy people in Dubai would still rather buy gas-guzzling Bugattis and Veyrons over all-electric Porsches and Teslas.
2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo | 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S | Porsche Taycan 4S | Porsche Taycan 4S Performance Plus | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Electric motors power | 616 horsepower (670 horsepower with overboost) | 616 horsepower (750 horsepower with overboost) | 530 horsepower | 571 horsepower |
Battery | 93 kWh | 93 kWh | 79.2 kWh | 93.4 kWh |
0-60 mph | 3 seconds | 2.6 seconds | 4.0 seconds | 4.0 seconds |
Top Speed | 161 mph | 161 mph | 155 mph | 155 mph |