Porsche is on pace to double Taycan sales to 40,000 units this year as the electric car is becoming an important part of the premium automaker’s lineup.
Before coming to market, there were a lot of questions about if the Taycan could become a volume electric vehicle.
It was not only Porsche’s first all-electric vehicle, but it also came to the market at a premium price.
Now just about two years into delivering the electric car, it looks like Porsche is already on track to achieve that.
Porsche announced today that it delivered just shy of 20,000 Taycans during the first half of the year:
“The all-electric Taycan celebrates a special success: with 19,822 vehicle deliveries, it is just under the level of 2020 as a whole at the end of the half-year. By this, the latest member of the model range is on a par with the sports car icon, the 911, with deliveries of 20,611 and an increase of 22 percent.”
The electric vehicle is quickly becoming the most important non-SUV vehicle in its lineup in terms of sales.
In comparison, the Panamera, which is the closest vehicle to the Taycan in terms of size and price, only saw 13,633 deliveries during the same period.
The only vehicles in Porsche’s lineup outpacing the Taycan are SUVs. Porsche already delivered 44,050 Cayenne SUVs this year and 43,618 Macan SUVs.
But those vehicle programs are all expected to be electrified soon – starting with an electric version of the Macan coming next year.
Electrek‘s take
At this point, we are talking Tesla Model S levels of volume. I don’t know that many people saw that coming.
Good on Porsche. They are taking electrification seriously, and it is paying off.
The electric Macan should be a big seller for them too, and then they have other things in the pipeline, like the PPE platform and the investment in Rimac, that could pay off big.
I think it’s excellent for the electrification movement to see such an iconic brand like Porsche go electric.
Actor and director Samantha Morton has said councils who fail to prevent the deaths of children in care should face manslaughter charges.
Warning: This story contains references to suicide.
In a powerful interview with Sky News, the Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning actor and director, who grew up in care, said Britain’s care system needs to be “completely rethought”.
It comes after a Sky News documentary, A Girl Called Nonita, told the story of 18-year-old Nonita Grabovskyte, who died in the care of the state following a catalogue of failures by those responsible for her care.
Nonita took her own life on railway tracks in December 2023, just two weeks after her birthday. She had previously told doctors and social workers that she intended to kill herself as soon as she turned 18. But nothing was done to prevent her death.
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Unseen: A girl called Nonita
“I was a child of the state, just like Nonita,” Morton told Sky News.
“I was put in care at birth until I got the letter to say I was no longer the council’s responsibility. I was kicked out at 16 and put into a homeless hostel.”
After spells of homelessness, she found a local TV actors’ workshop and managed to secure roles that would eventually lead to Hollywood.
But she says she has never forgotten her childhood, which saw her in and out of children’s homes and foster families.
“The lack of care historically is shocking,” she said. “But the lack of care today is worse. Back then, it felt like there was at least some comeuppance.
“The system now is not fit for purpose. It needs root and branch reform. It needs to be completely rethought.”
The young people who grew up in care who have died in England since 2020
2020: 40
2021: 30
2022: 60
2023: 90
2024: 80
Source: Department for Education
The data shows a sharp rise in deaths among care leavers – young adults who have aged out of the care system and are expected to live independently, often with little or no support.
The Department for Education only began collecting data for care leavers aged 22 to 25 in 2023, meaning the true scale of deaths over the past decade is likely to be far higher.
Morton says councils should be held more accountable for the deaths of children in their care, especially if local authority failings contributed to deaths.
Image: Pic: Invision/AP
‘State manslaughter’
“A failure to care has massive consequences,” she told Sky News. “And the consequences are that people like Nonita die. I believe that that is a kind of state manslaughter.
“And individuals who fail to do their job properly should be in a dock.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told Sky News that deaths of care-experienced young people should “shame us all”.
All deaths of children in the care of the state must be reported to the government via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification Scheme.
But there are doubts as to whether all deaths are being reported.
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Phillipson: ‘Nonita was failed on so many levels’
‘Shames us as a country’
Ms Phillipson told Sky News she has asked officials to urgently review the process to check for underreporting.
“I’m concerned about serious incident notifications – about making sure we’re receiving all notifications of such incidents taking place,” she said.
“Because it’s only if we know what’s happening, if we fully understand what’s going on in the lives of children, that we as a government, as a country, can provide the support they need.”
Ms Phillipson added: “It shames us all as a country that we so badly fail many of the most vulnerable children who’ve experienced such appalling trauma and abuse in their early lives.
“I read every single notification personally – and it always stays with you. Every case is a child or young person who deserved better.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, help, and support is available. You can call Samaritans free on 116 123 anytime day or night. You can also email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find support online.
Sally Kirkland, a former model and Oscar nominated actress known for her roles in films such as Anna, The Sting and JFK has died aged 84.
Her representative, Michael Greene, said Kirkland died on Tuesday morning at a Palm Springs hospice.
Kirkland had been unwell and struggling to cover medical bills after she fractured six bones last year and developed two life-threatening infections. She had also been diagnosed with dementia.
A GoFundMePage that was set up by her friends to help pay for her ongoing treatment had raised over £45,000 ($60,000).
Image: Michael Douglas, left, and Sally Kirkland appear with their best actor Golden Globes for Wall Street and Anna. Pic: AP
Her biggest role was in the 1987 film Anna, as a fading Czech movie star remaking her life in the United States and mentoring a younger actor.
Kirkland won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination alongside Cher in Moonstruck, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Holly Hunter in Broadcast News and Meryl Streep in Ironweed.
Born in New York City, Kirkland was encouraged to start modelling at age five by her mother, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and Life magazines. Kirkland went on to graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1961.
More from Ents & Arts
An early breakout for the star was appearing in Andy Warhol’s 13 Most Beautiful Women in 1964.
Image: Sally Kirkland in 2015. Pic: Reuters
Some of her earliest roles were playing Shakespeare parts, including Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Miranda in an off-Broadway production of The Tempest.
She once told the Los Angeles Times: “I don’t think any actor can really call him or herself an actor unless he or she puts in time with Shakespeare.”
Kirkland was also infamous for her nude scenes, often disrobing in films and for social causes. In particular, Kirkland volunteered and advocated for people with AIDS, the homeless and prisoners.
Donald Trump has said he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over an edit of a speech he gave before the US Capitol riot in 2021.
The president doubled down on his legal threat to the corporation in a Fox News interview on Tuesday night, as the corporation remains in crisis after the resignation of two of its top figures – including director-general Tim Davie.
“They defrauded the public, and they’ve admitted it,” Mr Trump said.
“And this is within one of our great allies, you know?”
It came after concerns emerged about a Panorama documentary from last year which showed Mr Trump appearing to tell supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell”. There was in fact around an hour in between the two parts of the speech that were spliced together.
He told Fox News the Panorama edit had made a “beautiful” and “very calming speech” sound “radical”, which was “incredible” and “very dishonest”.
Mr Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it issues a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, apologises immediately, and “appropriately” compensates him. It’s been given a deadline of 10pm UK time on Friday.
The BBC has come under increasingly heavy fire from its critics in the UK over the Panorama programme. The Conservatives have demanded it apologise to Mr Trump and the public, while Reform has reportedly pulled out of a documentary the corporation was planning about the party.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy defended the BBC in the Commons on Tuesday, denying accusations it’s institutionally biased and calling on MPs to “value it, uphold it, and fiercely defend it”.
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4:59
Nandy’s BBC warning to MPs
She said she has been in “regular contact” with BBC chair Samir Shah, ensuring that where standards were not met, “firm, swift and transparent action follows”.
Ms Nandy said a review of the BBC’s Royal Charter will begin “imminently” and a public consultation will be launched, with more details in the “coming weeks”.
‘We made a mistake – but need to fight,’ says outgoing BBC boss
Her Commons statement came after outgoing director-general Mr Davie said the corporation “made some mistakes that have cost us”, but added he was “proud” and that the organisation needed to “fight” for its journalism.
Mr Davie told staff on a call: “I think we did make a mistake, and there was an editorial breach, and I think some responsibility had to be taken.”
Mr Davie, who has worked for the BBC for 20 years and been in charge for the past five, is not stepping down immediately but hopes a successor will be put in place “over the coming months”.
Some questions were about the controversial appointment of Sir Robbie Gibb, the former Tory director of communications for prime minister Theresa May, to the BBC board. But when these questions were getting through the vetting process, staff tried to ask questions in the reply boxes, which were public.
Image: Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s then director of communications, leaves No 10 in 2019. Pic: James Veysey/Shutterstock
File type: JPG
The anonymous comments included questions like “How can we claim to be unbiased if Gibb is on the board?” and “Why is Robbie Gibb still on the board?”.
“I find Robbie Gibb’s continued presence at the BBC to be incredibly demoralising. It feels as if he is fighting against and undermining the work we’re trying to do,” another comment read.
The leaders of the Lib Dems and SNP have both called for Sir Robbie’s removal.
But Ms Nandy told the Commons the government is “unable” to remove Sir Robbie, as “the charter sets a strict legal threshold that must be met before dismissal of a board member”.
