What’s this “Porsche Taycan” you speak of?
When Porsche’s Taycan Turbo set the record for four-door production EVs around the Nürburgring a couple years ago, we all knew Tesla wasn’t going to take that lying down. Elon Musk vowed to take the wickedly fast Tesla Model S Plaid back to the ‘Green Hell’ when he revealed the car (after earlier attempts when the car was in development), and now the production model’s done just that.
The official time? According to Musk and Tesla, the Plaid threw down a 7:35.579 around the 12.9-mile track:
And this is just the start, Musk says. In a followup tweet, he said, “Next will be modified Plaid with added aero surfaces, carbon brakes & track tires (all things that can be done without Tesla being in the loop.” Still, even on what is purportedly a completely stock Plaid, Tesla handily beat the Taycan’s 7:42.34.
Again, it’s tough to imagine Porsche’s just going to quietly accept that. Much as you’d expect among conventional performance cars, the world of hot electric cars is heating up year after year, and I’d expect to see these two contenders locked in battle to snatch and maintain the lap time crown. What’s even better is that they’ll both have to watch their flanks for the Lucid Air, Mercedes-AMG EQS and others that enter the ring too.
Odds are, this fight’s just getting started.
