The 2019 Porsche Pajun (AKA the baby Panamera) has been on and off for some time now, but the latest news was that it was pushed back to 2019. Now, a new report from Auto, Motor und Sport claims that there may be more than meets the eye with the upcoming model, as Porsche->ke1 has reportedly turned its focus to making it more on it being a Tesla->ke1842 competitor.

According to the report, the Pajun will carry a full-electric powertrain that will offer in the range of at least 350 to 400 km (217 to 248 miles). That would put the Pajun directly in the wheelhouse of the lower-range Model S->ke3329 versions, but still far short of the 2015 Model S P85D’s range. Chances are that the range included in this report was simply a base model.

There is no mention of whether or not the Pajun would be solely an electric car->ke1030 or if Porsche may make a standard gasoline-powered model and an EV. However, the German-to-English translation sure does imply that it may be EV only.

According to AMS, the Pajun EV will be ready for the road by 2018 or 2019. As with all of these speculative reports based on some shrivel of fact, take it with a grain of salt.

Click past the jump to read more about the future baby Panamera.

Why it matters

The battle to EV supremacy goes directly through the Silicon Valley offices of Tesla, so it is no wonder that Porsche is turning the Pajun’s focus to the EV company. The problem is that Tesla has such a head start on the industry, Porsche may take another decade to catch up. In order to make this work, Porsche needs to make the Pajun all the Tesla model S is and then some. With it taking another four year (at least) to get the batteries right, the German brand has ample time to focus on perfecting everything else. It’ll be an uphill battle, but if there is one company adequately equipped to handle besting the Model S, it’s Porsche.

Porsche Pajun