Porsche's Taycan Turbo GT Is Way More Expensive Than a Plaid But Cheaper Than a Sapphire

First, let's start the story earlier this year when Porsche announced the 2025 Taycan with a mid-cycle refresh, citing a lot of improvements. Not on the outside, where you'll hardly notice the changes. Not even on the inside, where the upgrades are entirely logical and eagerly awaited. Instead, the magic happens under the skin, where Porsche has improved just about everything – efficiency, range, battery capacity, and charging speed. Plus, above all, it also brings more ponies to the electric stable.

Yes, it doesn't look like part of a major redesign because Porsche has never been fond of mid-cycle revolutions. But under the skin, the situation is completely reversed. People buying the 2025 model year will basically get a 'sleeper' EV, which has better acceleration, better range, and way better performance.

Even the base model got a healthy power jump to 483 horsepower – along with a healthy jump in MSRP, of course, because now there are no more Taycan models under the $100k threshold in America when the destination fee is also included. Unlike Tesla, their entries into 'pricing wars' have always gone up, never down – that's how they rack up those fat profits at the end of each year.

As for the top tier, the 2025 Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S and the regular Turbo S sedan have both jumped over the $210k fence, whereas the outgoing models were below $200k. However, it's understandable if you don't think about the huge MSRP in the first place – before, they had 750 hp, and now they're available with 938 horsepower. Also, they are sold with a larger 105-kWh battery pack, faster DC charging of +50 kW at up to 320 kW (800-volt stations), while the 400-volt ones give it up to 150 kW, and the best real-world range, according to the company, is now 365 miles (587 km).

Naturally, with the new figures, Porsche made sure its Taycan Turbo S can start rallying adepts behind its claim to the throne of fastest EV in the world – or at least got itself inscribed in the Pantheon of quickest and most powerful series-production cars worldwide, alongside the 1,020-hp Tesla Model S Plaid and the 1,234-hp Lucid Air Sapphire. The best thing of all is that with a Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S, you can stand out in any Plaid or Sapphire crowd as the five-door shooting brake-type is not just another luxury saloon aiming to make a name for itself across the EV genre.

However, we were mistaken in thinking this was the pre-production facelifted Taycan that set a new Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for EVs during the development trials. Instead, the often-rumored ultra-performance Taycan that was spied on more occasions by our spy photographer partners than anyone can remember was a different version. Now the cat is out of the bag, and finally, Porsche tops the 2025 Taycan roster with the first-ever Turbo GT and Turbo GT with Weissach package.

Tucking over 1,000-hp in both versions, the 2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is now a real competitor for the 1,020-hp Tesla Model S Plaid and even the 1,234-hp Lucid Air Sapphire because of two simple reasons – with the new ten-second Attack Mode enabled or when counting on the two seconds of Porsche's "peak power measurement method," Porsche's Turbo GT tops any Plaid with up to 1,092 horsepower. Sure, daily driving conditions don't need all that, so the new model has 777 hp for regular use conditions. Should any Plaid come nearby, and the driver doesn't have time to set up Attack Mode, only Launch Control, the overboost power function raises the electric bar to 1,019 horsepower, on par with Tesla's mighty Plaid.

Now, why did we dare say it's also a foe for the 1,234-horsepower Lucid Air Sapphire? Well, that's simple to answer. There are two main reasons. First, the Weissach package makes use of some controversial tricks (like getting rid of the rear seats in a four-door vehicle!) and ends up way lighter than a 938-hp 2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo S – up to 157 pounds are between them in favor of the Turbo GT with Weissach package. So, it might be much lighter than a Lucid Air Sapphire, thus negating its power advantage through a better power-to-weight ratio.

Secondly, while the 1,020-hp Tesla Model S Plaid costs $89,990 – which isn't cheap by any means – it still sounds like double-bargain compared to the 2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT sedan because the latter costs $230k before applying the $1,995 delivery, processing, and handling fee. If we do the math, that means we can buy two-and-a-half Plaids for that kind of money! As such, Porsche is positioning the new model immediately below the $249k Lucid Air Sapphire, giving Tesla yet another advantage over legacy OEMs!