Porsche’s first Super Bowl ad since 1997 features car chase with its all-electric Taycan

Porsche is returning to the Super Bowl with its first ad since 1997 — a 60-second car chase that features the German brand’s all-electric Taycan sports car.

The automaker on Friday released an extended version of the ad, titled “The Chase,” security guards at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany piling into different Porsche vehicles to chase after a stole Taycan Turbo S. The thief, outsmarted at a narrow bridge, ends up being another guard.

A Super Bowl ad featuring the Taycan, according to Porsche, was important to build awareness for the car in an attempt to continue attracting new customers interested in all-electric vehicles.

Klaus Zellmer, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America, last year told CNBC that the company was receiving a surprising amount of interest from Tesla owners for the Taycan, its first all-electric vehicles.

All the vehicles featured in the ad, according to Zellmer, “share the same soul” of the historic sports car brand: “A Porsche is always a driver’s car, and the playful chase in ‘The Heist’ draws a clear line through decades of models to the Taycan,” he said in a release.

Other Porsche vehicles in the ad include the 917 K race car, 918 Spyder hybrid supercar, and iconic 911. Filming locations for the ad in Germany include Heidelberg, the scenic Black Forest and the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart, where Porsche is headquartered.

The Taycan, Porsche’s first all-electric vehicle, is highly important to the company’s pivot away from vehicles with internal combustion engines. However, the sports car has been criticized for its EV range, which significantly trails older all-electric vehicle models from competitors such as Tesla.

The Taycan Turbo S, which starts at roughly $190,000, in the ad boasts an impressive 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds but its EV range is only 192 miles. That compares to the $100,000 Tesla Model S Performance that can achieve 0 to 60 in 2.4 seconds and has an EV range of 348 miles.

Porsche has defended the Taycan by saying it would not compromise on the performance, or Porsche DNA, of the vehicle as well as the range being more than enough for an average daily commute.

Porsche’s Super Bowl ad, which is scheduled to air during the first quarter of the game on Feb. 4, was produced with Chicago-based ad agency Cramer-Krasselt.