You could be forgiven for thinking that Porsche would be happy resting on their laurels when it comes to the Taycan. After all, there is already a plethora of existing variants—it’s a congested squad to choose from between the barebones base model, all the way up to the sufficiently bonkers Turbo S. Add to the fact that there are two distinct body styles, and the potential combinations for performance and styling become seemingly endless.
But that’s not at all how the German automaker has been at it, in recent times particularly. Their brand-wide “…well, there’s always room for improvement” mantra on performance ceilings (or lack thereof) is something that has kept Porsche fans and the broader car enthusiast community on the edge of their seats for the past decade or so.
While there of course has always been a vacancy for something that could sit above the Turbo S models in a performance sense, the Porsche Taycan is broadly perceived as an automobile meant to be more utilitarian in nature. That—and the fact that EVs are still in their infancy across the board—and it’s Porsche this time who could be forgiven, if they had so chosen to stop short of producing a (for lack of a better symbol) GT-E variant.
There’s been no official nomenclature associated with this mysterious up-and-comer of a Taycan, but it’s the results which do nothing to hide that this car has all the requisite characteristics to be considered in the same ilk as Porsche’s quintessential GT4, GT3 and GT2 bloodline. We reckon that it’ll surely be given a (GT) badge that gives credence to its resumé, once it’s made official to the public. The “Turbo GT” moniker is already being uttered by some in the industry.
Now, here’s what we know for sure.
The Nürburgring Nordschleife Lap Time
7:07.55
On the surface, it’s just a number. But when given a bit of context, a clearer—and quite frankly, stunning—picture gets painted.
This achievement places the upcoming Porsche Taycan variant in some very esteemed company, both within its own line-up and relative to other high-performance EVs. It’s not at all far off the pace of the automaker’s flagship 911 GT3 and GT3 RS models, coming in at just a few seconds behind the sub-7-minute benchmark setters. It’s virtually just as quick as the relatively brand new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS MR, of which it has a near-2000-lbs weight penalty against it.
Compared to other EVs that have done the ‘Ring run, this smashes Porsche’s own Taycan Turbo S time by a whopping 26 seconds, and perhaps more sensationally, the Tesla Model S Plaid time by more than 17 seconds. This however, wasn’t quite enough to make it quicker than the current EV record holder. That title is still held by the Rimac Nevera—practically splitting hairs with its time of 7:05.29—which is made all the more impressive by the fact that this new Taycan will cost a small fraction of the Croatian-made hypercar retails for, and there’s seating for 4 (or 5) to boot.
We look forward to sharing more details with you as they become available. Stay tuned!
