Porsche has taken down payments from 30,000 customers in Europe for its Taycan, the automaker’s first full-electric model, Germany’s Handelsblatt reported.
These customers have made down payments of 2,500 euros ($2,771) each and 10,000 of them have already placed a firm order to buy a Taycan, CEO Oliver Blume told the business paper. This exceeded the company’s expectations, Blume said.
Porsche plans to deliver 20,000 Taycans next year. The company is starting shipments of the Taycan to U.S. dealerships this month and to European markets in early 2020.
The automaker is under pressure from Tesla, which last month announced that it will build its first European factory and design centre near Berlin. The purchase contract for the site is currently being negotiated and construction of the factory will start next year, the Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday.
