Hennessey Performance Engineering is known for some wild modified vehicles, but as automakers turn more of their focus on electrification, HPE wants to do the same.
On Tuesday, the Texas-based tuner said it plans to take delivery of a Porsche Taycan to see what's possible. To underscore, in no way did HPE confirm it will offer performance upgrades for the Taycan. That's probably going to take quite some time to figure out and it would take plenty of blood, sweat, tears and swear words to crack the ECU.
What HPE does want to do right away is start creating exterior modifications to up the electric sedan's aggression. The Taycan is already a pretty handsome thing, but the renderings included with the announcement add just a little more menace to the look. Presumably lighter and multispoke wheels and a shade of highlighter green are front and center, too.
"We felt that the new Porsche Taycan was the right platform from which to modify our first EV," HPE CEO John Hennessey said. After tinkering with exterior parts and other interior upgrades, "We will see what might be possible in terms of adding more power," he added in a statement.
Owners likely won't be longing for too much extra power to start. The Taycan will launch in Turbo and Turbo S forms next year. The former will come with 670 horsepower and 626 pound-feet of instant torque. Those will an unsatisfied need for speed will find the Turbo S and its 750 hp and 774 pound-feet of torque the right recipe. Note, those numbers aren't always there and come alive via an overboost function.
Porsche plans to deliver its first Taycans in the US starting next year. After that, HPE said it will take delivery of its development car for various aftermarket Taycan parts. Plenty of companies already offer aftermarket support for Teslas, so it's really no surprise Porsche of all carmakers has earned the interest of HPE.