Porsche is a brand known for precision engineering and exacting German standards—but never let it be said that they can’t throw a good party. With the word of the night being ‘Overfeel’, Porsche’s Asia-Pacific launch of the refreshed Taycan took place at an energetic, vibrant affair at Singapore’s Pasir Panjang Power Station. With wine, whisky and champagne on the side, dance numbers and smoke machines, and a judiciously performed electric guitar solo, a total of seven variants of Porsche’s revolutionary, all-electric super sedan took centre stage. But even these were outdone by the surprise unveiling of the Taycan Turbo S ‘Celestial Jade’, a one-off special edition that showcases the possibilities of the brand’s Exclusive Manufaktur Sonderwunsch customisation programme.
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Designed by the Porsche Asia-Pacific team, Celestial Jade was meant to reflect an appreciation for the cultures of Southeast Asia. Its most striking feature is the external finish—for the first time, Porsche has blended two of its Chromaflair finishes. These finishes contain tiny, reflective particles that seem to shift in colour depending on the light conditions. Development of the Celestial Jade finish, which combines two colours—Urban Bamboo, a green with gold highlights, and Shifting Carbon, a dark grey with blue undertones—took about a year. The paint is hand-applied and took 80 hours to complete.
Inside, Celestial Jade sports customised leather colours in a grey and green theme that matches the exterior. A specially designed ‘LongMa’ logo, combining the head of a dragon and body of a horse, is also worked into places such as the headrests and sill guards. The car would later embark on a Southeast Asian tour, including a stop in Genting Highlands for viewing in Malaysia, before it will eventually be offered for sale.
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As for the rest of the Taycan line-up, the new versions have received a few minor tweaks to front and rear—look hard enough and the difference in headlights is just about noticeable. The under-the-hood upgrades are more extensive, if largely still incremental. The Taycan is faster across the range, with the base model (RM575,000) accelerating from 0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds, an 0.6-second improvement. At the top of the scale, the Taycan Turbo GT (RM1.16 million) accomplishes the century sprint in a heart-stopping 2.2 seconds, with a maximum power output of a terrifying 1,019bhp and a top speed of 290km/h. Range is up across the board, too, with most variants rated to break the 600km/h mark—the base Taycan with the Performance Battery Plus pack has a maximum of 678km. As always, real-world results will not be quite as optimistic, but—as any EV owner knows—a range bump is always welcome and, in this case, it is a 35 per cent improvement. Charging is faster, too, accommodating up to 320kW for a 10 to 80 per cent charge time of 18 minutes.
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Adaptive air suspension is now standard, with the new Active Ride suspension an option for all-wheel drive models. This functions like anti-roll bars would, keeping the chassis level even in challenging conditions, which results in a more comfortable and composed ride. Despite this addition, and an extensive array of interior comforts and driving tech—14-way adjustable seats, surround cameras, and the like—the new Taycan is somehow up to 15kg lighter across the range.
From a broader perspective, the Taycan refresh does little to change its position in the market. The improvements in range are a welcome practicality, and the power upgrades—well, the higher-end variants of the Taycan were already one of the fastest production cars available. Most importantly, the new Taycan handles like the old—a heavy vehicle, sure, but with an engaging, reactive dynamism that is very particular to Porsche. The EV scene has changed dramatically since the Taycan’s inception in 2019, but it is still the only EV that is also a Porsche.
