New Porsche Taycan Crushes Tesla Model S Plaid’s Nurburgring Time

A ‘pre-series’ Porsche Taycan has obliterated Tesla Model S Plaid’s Nurburgring lap time record by 18 seconds!

Porsche is in the midst of launching the updated version of its flagship EV saloon, the Taycan. This time around, the updated Taycan will feature a new top-specced variant that will be placed above the current Taycan Turbo S model. Ahead of its global debut, Porsche has decided to flex the muscle of its new EV saloon by taking it around the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Piloted by Porsche’s test driver Lars Kern, the new ‘pre-series’ Taycan has recorded an impressive time of 7:07.55 around the ‘Green Hell’, which is about 26 seconds faster than the previous record set by the current-gen Taycan Turbo S. More importantly, the new Taycan has also obliterated Tesla Model S Plaid’s record by a whopping 18 seconds, with the Sino-American EV saloon’s best lap time set at 7:25.23.

This new lap time record has put the new Taycan ‘Turbo GT’ toe-to-toe with some modern ICE-powered supercars like the Porsche 918 Spyder and the McLaren 720S. More impressively, this EV GT is only a couple of seconds shy of the fastest production EV lap time recorded around the Nurburgring. Set by the manic Rimac Nevera, the EV hypercar managed to lap the ‘ring in just 7:05.298.

“Twenty-six seconds is half an eternity in motorsport. Lars’ lap time of 7:07.55 minutes on the Nordschleife is sensational, putting the Taycan in the same league as electric hypercars,” said Kevin Giek, the head of the model line. “And the impressive thing about it is that over several laps, Lars clocked almost exactly the same time.”

The new Porsche Taycan benefits from a slew of performance upgrades over its predecessor

While Porsche has yet to reveal the detailed upgrades it bestowed on the new Taycan, the Stuttgart-based marque did claim that the pre-production EV saloon was 25 KM/H faster in the Schwedenkreuz corner while managing to finish the lap more than 1.3 KM ahead of the current Taycan Turbo S.

Numerous reports have also suggested that the new Taycan will benefit from a tweaked chassis setup, a slew of new aero parts, including a carbon fibre rear wing, and an improved three-motor powertrain setup that is capable of outputting over 1,000 HP (746 kW). For reference, the Tesla Model S Plaid’s tri-motor setup is rated at 1,020 HP (761 kW), while the current Porsche Taycan Turbo S’ dual-motor AWD setup is capped at only 751 HP (560 kW).

A full on-board video of the new Taycan lap will be posted later in mid-March, and that will likely coincide with the global debut of this new and updated EV saloon.