Porsche shows its muscle in the electric sports car war

The old track of Nürburgring Nordschleife is a special place for the world of motorsport, a unique circuit that has become the cathedral of world motorsport due to its narrow, winding and changing layout. Very present in popular culture and in the world of competition, the major brands also fight to beat the stopwatch of their rivals on the Nürburgring track, in an operation that has become a major challenge for the engineering teams of the major brands. For example, twelve years ago the Seat Cupra León (the Cupra division had not yet separated from Seat) became the fastest front-wheel drive car in the world at Nürburgring, which prepared the immediate reaction of Renault, which spent a lot of money on an evolution of the Mégane RS capable of beating the Catalan compact in the old green hell of Nürburgring. 

In this context, the obsession of many manufacturers to beat the records of their segment at Nürburgring is understood, in an operation that has more to do with the prestige and pride of the brands than with the general valuation of the vehicle. However, Porsche had been preparing a special variant of the Taycan for some months to beat the record for the fastest production electric vehicle at Nürburgring, which was taken by the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra. Being seven or eight seconds faster at Nürburgring does not represent any qualitative change in the vehicle, but from Germany they took on the challenge with enthusiasm and turned the objective of surpassing the Chinese electric car into a demonstration of European savoir faire and industrial potential in a setting, it should be remembered, in the heart of Europe.A high-flying sport

Porsche has prepared a special version called the Manthey Kit, which will be available on Taycan GT Turbo models with the Weissach package and improves the vehicle's aerodynamic load, top speed, and power. This package is designed for competition versions and represents an additional cost of around 50,000 euros for the Taycan Turbo GT Weissach, which already has a base price of 249,000 euros, bringing the final figure for the vehicle to around 300,000 euros.The brand's test driver, Lars Kern, was able to complete a lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in just 6'55"553, a mark that surpasses the time set by the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra by about nine seconds and which, it should be noted, will be difficult to beat for any other production vehicle. In fact, the brand has published a video with an onboard camera to capture the real capabilities of the new Taycan GT Turbo Weissach with the Manthey package. The car's effectiveness, its acceleration and braking capacity, and the absence of noise from the internal combustion engine are surprising.

The sports electric car segment is not taking off, and most Porsche customers still prefer combustion 911s over the sporty versions of the Taycan, which, despite being a great car, has not achieved the commercial results expected by the brand. However, the company's management is confident in the potential of its electric model, although they have already begun to modify their roadmap, keeping combustion models for more years than initially planned or developing new models with combustion engines, as in the case of the Macan.