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The Internet is boiling with news of a prototype Tesla Model S having one-upped the production Porsche Taycan on the Nurburgring. And while the stopwatch story is probably true, we need to zoom out a little bit before jumping to conclusions.
Like the majority of industries, the car realm relies on competition between the players. So while Porsche, along with most mainstream carmakers out there, has left Tesla virtually alone on the premium EV market for more than a decade, the time has now come for Zuffenhausen to not care about the said achievement of the American electron juice sipper.
The Model S Plaid test car(s) (the nomenclature is borrowed from the Spaceball gaming universe, where Plaid sits above Ludicrous) will lead to production models delivering roughly the same performance next year, as Elon himself has explained.
But we might just see the German automotive producer replying via a Taycan derivative that will sit above the Turbo S. And while we're asigning internal combustion nameplates to EVs, I've brought along a rendering that portrays the Taycan in GT2 RS trim. Actually, such a badge would make more sense than "Turbo": while there's no turbocharger on the Taycan, you could have a "Race Sport" version (this is the literal translation of the Rennsport bits that sits behind the GT2 RS badge).
Besides, as Stefan Weckbach, vice president of the Taycan product line told Car and Driver, the 7:42 Ring record Porsche set was achieved using the Turbo, not the Turbo S. So perhaps the Germans are already prepared to retaliate.
Of course, it's nice to browse the web and dream of EVs that get quicker by the season, but people actually have to buy these in order for the wheel to keep spinning.
So before we even think of the possibility of a Tesla-beating Porsche Taycan, we have to keep in mind that, as Porsche has already explained, a more affordable Taycan is coming later this year.
Will Zuffenhausen call this the 4S, as is the case with the equivalent Panamera model? Fortunately, it seems we don't have too much waiting to do before we find out.
The Model S Plaid test car(s) (the nomenclature is borrowed from the Spaceball gaming universe, where Plaid sits above Ludicrous) will lead to production models delivering roughly the same performance next year, as Elon himself has explained.
But we might just see the German automotive producer replying via a Taycan derivative that will sit above the Turbo S. And while we're asigning internal combustion nameplates to EVs, I've brought along a rendering that portrays the Taycan in GT2 RS trim. Actually, such a badge would make more sense than "Turbo": while there's no turbocharger on the Taycan, you could have a "Race Sport" version (this is the literal translation of the Rennsport bits that sits behind the GT2 RS badge).
Besides, as Stefan Weckbach, vice president of the Taycan product line told Car and Driver, the 7:42 Ring record Porsche set was achieved using the Turbo, not the Turbo S. So perhaps the Germans are already prepared to retaliate.
Of course, it's nice to browse the web and dream of EVs that get quicker by the season, but people actually have to buy these in order for the wheel to keep spinning.
So before we even think of the possibility of a Tesla-beating Porsche Taycan, we have to keep in mind that, as Porsche has already explained, a more affordable Taycan is coming later this year.
Will Zuffenhausen call this the 4S, as is the case with the equivalent Panamera model? Fortunately, it seems we don't have too much waiting to do before we find out.
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