Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) – Get Free Report and sports car powerhouse Porsche (POAHF) – Get Free Report have been exchanging ego blows over the past few years over the performance capabilities of cars from the respective marques.
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During Tesla’s Cybertruck event, Musk showed off the performance of the polygon-shaped electric pickup truck by showing a video of a Porsche 911 Carrera losing a drag race to a Cybertruck towing a Porsche 911 Carrera.
Porsche has little experience in the world of pickup trucks, but the German marque have decades of experience making fast cars for both the road and the race track.
Said experience is represented in EV form through its performance-oriented Taycan sports sedan, the latest version of which has recently beaten a performance record one of Tesla’s cars once held.
In an announcement on Tuesday, Porsche announced that a pre-production version of an upcoming high-performance variant of the Taycan sports sedan has lapped the 14-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7:07:55, 18 seconds quicker than Tesla’s production EV sedan record of 7:25 set by a Model S Plaid Track Package in June 2023.
An upcoming high-performance variant of the Porsche Taycan laps the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Porsche
The lap time set by the Porsche is the latest move made in the silent ego-battle between the Stuttgart house of performance and Musk’s EV marque.
The informal competition began in 2019 when Porsche lapped the 14-mile track in 7:42 with a pre-production model of the Taycan, which set the record for the fastest EV production sedan. Tesla then beat the record in September 2021 with the 1,020 horsepower Model S Plaid, which went around in 7:35. Porsche snapped back with a special edition Taycan Turbo S that went around in 7:33, until Tesla fought back in June 2023 with the 7:25 record.
Why a ‘Ring time is so important to Porsche and Tesla
A new variant of the Porsche Taycan is seen on a track.
Porsche
Nicknamed the “Green Hell” by Formula One legend Jackie Stewart, the Nürburgring Nordschleife is the former site of the series’ German Grand Prix. In recent years, the 14-mile Goliath of a race track has been a popular site for a diverse array of manufacturers from Honda to BMW and GM to conduct pre-production testing of its latest models.
The long straights and 154 turns of the ‘Ring pushes cars’ performance and handling to its absolute limit. A record time here is more than just bragging rights to manufacturers like Porsche and Tesla, it can be the end-all-be-all decider amongst respective enthusiasts of which manufacturer makes the better car.
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Porsche says that a video of its record lap will be released in mid-March.
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