Porsche's electric Taycan draws interest from 30,000 buyers: Handelsblatt

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Porsche has taken down payments from 30,000 customers in Europe for its Taycan, the luxury car maker's first fully electric model, CEO Oliver Blume told Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper.

These customers have made down payments of 2,500 euros each and 10,000 of them have already placed a firm order to buy a Taycan, Blume said, adding that this number exceeded the company's expectations.

Porsche, which is starting shipment of the Taycan to U.S. dealerships this month and to other markets shortly thereafter, is planning to deliver 20,000 Taycans in 2020.

Porsche is under pressure from peer Tesla <TSLA.O>, which last month announced that it will build its first European factory and design center near Berlin.

The purchase contract for the site is currently being negotiated and construction of the factory will start in the spring of next year, the Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; editing by Jason Neely)