The new Porsche Taycan is a quiet experiment in making EVs feel alive again
Speed was never the Taycan's problem. Feeling was.
Every update to the Taycan so far has chased the usual electric metrics: more range, faster charging, bigger numbers. The 2027 model year does something more interesting. Almost every headline change is aimed not at how fast the car is, but at how it makes you feel. Porsche has looked at its electric flagship, decided that outright pace was already a solved problem, and gone hunting for emotion instead.
E-Shift: a gearbox that is not there
The centrepiece is E-Shift, an option that hands you eight gears that do not physically exist. Pull the paddle on the GT-sports steering wheel and the car delivers a real jerk, holds a simulated ratio, applies gear-specific drag torque that mimics engine braking, and refuses to rev past a virtual limiter. A rev counter and a shift light appear in the cluster, and the Porsche Electric Sport Sound rises and falls with the imagined revs. Crucially, Porsche has given each model its own transmission mapping and sound profile, so a GTS and a Turbo GT do not feel identical. It is optional across the range and standard on the Turbo GT, switched on through its own toggle on the wheel.
Porsche is not pretending this is about performance. A simulated gearbox makes the Taycan no quicker. It exists purely to give the driver something to do with their hands and ears, to break up the relentless single-speed surge that makes fast EVs feel a little numb. Model line boss Kevin Giek summed up the whole update as offering "a more emotive driving experience." That is the entire thesis in five words.
The Manthey Kit that actually changes the numbers
If E-Shift is emotion without performance, the new Manthey Kit is the opposite. Offered for the Taycan Turbo GT with the Weissach Package, it brings aerodynamic, chassis and powertrain changes, and it is the first Manthey Kit ever built for an electric Porsche as well as the first available straight from the factory rather than as a retrofit. The proof is on the clock: Lars Kern lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6:55.533 with it fitted, a record for an electric executive car. For the small group of owners who will track their Taycan, this is the genuinely hardcore option.
And the update that matters most to everyone else
For the majority of buyers, the most consequential change is the least glamorous. New low-rolling-resistance summer tyres for the rear-wheel-drive saloon and Sport Turismo add up to 20 km of range on their own, and paired with the Performance Battery Plus they push the Taycan beyond 700 km on the WLTP cycle for the first time. The 20-inch tyres are tuned for motorway and city use alike, and the option is available across Europe. Range anxiety has always been the Taycan's weakest point against rivals, and 700 km quietly closes much of that gap.
A cabin that finally keeps up
The Taycan also inherits the Porsche Digital Interaction system from the Macan Electric and Cayenne Electric. The hardware is up to five times more powerful than before, wrapped in a minimalist interface centred on a rotatable 3D model of your own car in its actual paint colour, with smartphone-style widgets and a Themes app for personalisation. Voice control is now AI-driven through the Voice Pilot, which holds a natural conversation, takes follow-up questions without repeating the wake word, and can even open the charging flap when asked. Over-the-air updates and quicker 25-watt wireless charging finish the job. The 2027 Taycan is on sale to order now.
AutoNext Take
Read the three big changes together and a clear philosophy emerges: Porsche has accepted that an electric car wins buyers on range and keeps them on feeling. E-Shift, the Manthey Kit and the 700 km figure each answer a different version of the same worry, that a fast EV can be brilliant yet leave you cold. The simulated gearbox is the part everyone will argue about, and yes, others tried it first, but the more revealing move is that Porsche bothered at all. A brand this confident in its driving credentials does not chase emotion in software unless it genuinely believes electric cars need help finding a soul. That admission, more than any single feature, is what makes this update worth paying attention to.
