Porsche and Tesla have built up a sort of rivalry between the Taycan and Model S, and now the German automaker is reportedly looking to take the rivalry to a new level with a tri-motor Taycan to compete with Tesla Model S Plaid, according to a new report.
After Porsche brought its brand-new Taycan electric car to the Nürburgring racetrack to break a record in 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to use the famous proving grounds for the electric automaker’s own latest performance vehicle.
Tesla started testing early Model S Plaid prototypes at the track and achieved some impressive lap times. However, the vehicle was delayed, and it didn’t launch until two years later.
Last year, Tesla brought its then brand-new Model S Plaid to the Nürburgring track and beat Porsche’s record with an impressive 7:35.579 lap.
It appears that it created a sort of rivalry between the two companies, and more specifically, between the two flagship sedans.
Earlier this year, Porsche brought a Taycan back to Nürburgring and beat Tesla’s time by two seconds to again claim the fastest lap record for a production series electric car, but not without controversy since the automaker used a Taycan equipped with a new “performance kit” that is “only available in Germany and only for the 2023 model year Taycan Turbo S sports sedan.”
Now according to a new report from UK’s Auto Express, Porsche is testing a new Taycan with a tri-motor configuration – like the Tesla Model S Plaid:
The Taycan range kicks off with the entry-level rear-wheel drive version, and the new tri-motor variant should supersede the Turbo S as the fastest model available. Given the upgrades, we predict a slight increase over the Taycan’s £75,500 starting price, with the upcoming flagship costing well in excess of the £142,400 Turbo S.
Performance kit or not, this version could really make a mark in terms of performance.
It’s not clear when the new tri-motor version of the Taycan will hit the market, but it will interesting to see if it pushes Tesla to have a response when it does.
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