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Porsche Mission R CGI Short Clip Suggests the Germans Are About to Fight Back

After using its involvement in the "24 Hours of Le Mans" endurance race series to promote its hybrid technology, Porsche is now once again tapping into the world of motorsport to boost its credentials in the EV market.
Porsche Mission R 9 photos
Photo: Florian Pack / Vimeo screenshot
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Some might point out the Taycan, the brand's first EV, has already done a great job at that, and they would be right. However, the electric sedan is still trailing others - including Tesla - in terms of maximum range while offering less space for its occupants and their baggage. Performance-wise, though, it's still up for debate whether the Taycan Turbo S was quicker than the Model S Performance in a drag race. However, with the arrival of the Plaid, that old debate essentially became 100% irrelevant anyway since now, it's not even close. It gets even worse when you consider the Turbo S is still more expensive than Tesla's top offering.

The Mission R, though, is a different kind of statement. Porsche says it's meant to preview the world of customer motorsport in the future, and while it may very well do that, it's hard to imagine the company would let a cool concept such as this go to relative waste by only using it for what is going to be (for a while, at least) a small number of EV racing enthusiasts.

Porsche Mission R
Photo: Florian Pack / Vimeo screenshot
Admittedly, if there is one car that might make their number grow, it is the Mission R. Its gorgeous looks and Porsche's motorsport pedigree provide two very convincing arguments, but the mainstream market is still where most of the money is. So, any sane person would look at the Mission R and think "what technology could we see dripping down to Porsche's production models?"

Well, how about "all of it?" The super-quick 900v charging system is definitely a viable alternative to stuffing as many battery cells as possible to increase range, with the caveat that it needs an extensive network of fast chargers to make use of the feature. And as for the 1,000+ hp powertrain, well, Tesla's new Nürburgring record isn't going to beat itself, is it?

People obsessed with 0-60 times might look at the Mission R's numbers published by Porsche and think "good luck with that." The concept is said to reach 62 mph (100 kph) in 2.5 seconds, whereas the Plaid will hit 60 mph (97 kph) in "under two seconds". Furthermore, the top speed for the German sporty EV is "over 300 kph" (186 mph), with the Plaid boosting a 200 mph (322 kph) top speed (that isn't yet available but should be unlocked in the future via an update).

These people seem to overlook a few things. Firstly, it's the way the two companies communicate their figures. Tesla, on the one hand, has an asterisk next to everything. You need to subtract the one-foot rollout and you need to attempt the acceleration on a prepped surface to get anywhere near those numbers. Porsche's approach is basically at the opposite end: the cars tend to perform better than advertised without the need of a flypaper-like surface or tailwind.

Porsche Mission R
Photo: Florian Pack / Vimeo screenshot
Second, the Mission R is a purpose-built sports car. That means it'll corner like nobody's business, also helped by the smaller battery pack (80 kWh). As for top speed, you don't really need more than 186 mph (300 kph) on the 'Ring because you won't find any room to deploy it.

And finally, Porsche will not use the Mission R - or any other concept - to beat the Plaid's time. The company has two options: either it uses something like the Taycan Turbo S to improve it marginally (assuming it can) or waits until it has a dedicated sports model to beat it by a minute or so. Anything other than that would do more harm than good. Actually, there's a third option: it backs down and ignores Nürburgring records altogether.

Considering it talks so much about e-powered motorsport, though, that last one doesn't seem very likely. Besides, Tesla coming on German soil to beat a Porsche almost sounds like an invasion. As this short CGI video suggests, we can expect Porsche to increase its focus on motorsport significantly. "In motorsport, you either follow, or you lead," reads the text, and at this moment, Porsche is kind of following.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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