Porsche Might Pull a Hyundai With Its Future EVs

Porsche is considering adding faux shifts to its electric models, a reversal of a previous decision.

"Porsche cribbing from Hyundai" would not have been a sentence we'd expect to hear even just a few years ago. But in the world of electric performance models, there is no established pecking order. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N showed us how artificial shifts could add to the engagement in a modern EV, and now it sounds like Porsche has been experimenting with a similar system, according to The Drive.

At a recent drive program for the upcoming Porsche Cayenne EV, The Drive got to ride along with Sascha Niesen, the validation manager for the Cayenne EV prototype fleet. Niesen first talks about the company recording Cayenne V8 sounds both inside and outside the car for adaptation to EV use. It can't just be mapped one-to-one with an electric motor's rev range however, it needs to be modulated. "But in theory, if you would introduce virtual gear shifts," Niesen expands, "you could use the whole thing, depending how many virtual gears you would introduce.”

While the prototypes The Drive and other media experienced didn't have any paddle shifters to work with such a system, Niesen confirms he drove something just like that earlier in the year.

“I drove a concept vehicle in March,” Niesen told the Drive. “I wanted to hate it because it’s artificial and it’s fake and everything. I was afraid that the people that are doing it are just software geeks who have no idea how a transmission works and try to emulate it,” he added. As it turns out, the team behind this new system is the same one behind Porsche's industry-leading PDK transmission. Even in prototype form, the simulated shifts were convincing enough to have Niesen admit he "could not tell the difference."

It's an encouraging development. There's no logical reason to add these faux shifts and detailed soundtracks: Hyundai engineers even admitted that it made the Ioniq 5 N (fractionally) slower. But cars, especially performance cars, are not always about logic: they're about wants, desires, and preferences. For the same reason enthusiasts still love a manual despite a modern auto 'box shifting faster and more consistently, EVs with simulated shifts can provide the option to engage more with the platform.

Porsche is no stranger to reversing a decision after customer feedback, either. In the last decade, it has brought a six-speed manual back to the GT3 and a six-cylinder back into the 718. We look forward to seeing whether a future all-electric production model brings in simulated shifts for more engagement.

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