Porsche readying 1,000hp tri-motor Taycan to demolish Model S Plaid

Tesla jokes notwithstanding, the Porsche Taycan is a ludicrously fast car, especially in its most potent (but nonsensically named) Turbo S guise, but Zuffenhausen is apparently hard at work on something even faster. 

Photos of a more hardcore Taycan have been snapped by spy photographers around the Nurburgring where the prototype EV was seen undergoing performance testing. The development of the car seen here with its prominently large rear wing is also coinciding with the Taycan’s first facelift, scheduled to be unveiled some time in 2023.

Back to the extra fast one, there’s plenty of speculation that Porsche is keen on cementing the crown of fastest fully electric vehicle to lap the Nordschleife from Tesla, which used an early unit of a Model S Plaid to achieve the currently standing individual lap record. 

Technically, the Taycan Turbo S still holds the official record with a time of 7:33 taken as an average of 2 laps. The Tesla, meanwhile, achieved a best single lap time of 7:30.909, and that 3 second margin is the final nugget that’s keeping Porsche awake at night (probably).

This has also led to the assumption that this 'Taycan GT3' (or GT2 since it's pretty excessive on power), so to speak, will be lighter (thanks to a construction with more CFRP components) and significantly more powerful than the Turbo S, likely utilising three electric motors much like the Model S Plaid - 1 up front, 2 at the rear axle. 

Apart from the very obvious rear aero, the car also boasts a revised front splitter and rear diffuser package alongside a set of wheels that look to be more favourable to weight saving and improved heat dissipation from the carbon ceramic brakes, indicated by the yellow callipers. 

We’re not sure if the car will receive an all-new suspension setup or retain the 3-chamber air springs that, while extremely competent in normal-to-spirited driving, comes with a sizeable weight penalty. 

Other creature comforts will also likely have to be axed to achieve the Taycan’s expanded performance targets, chiefly being to beat the Tesla’s best individual lap time of 7:30.909 seconds. 

Either way, it looks like we’re in for a newer and improved range of what most agree is the best all-round performance electric vehicle on the market capped off by a very quick range-topping variant. A slight price increase is also expected, though not exactly celebrated, to compensate for the rumoured bump equipment level and feature set across the entire range. 

We’ll bring you more coverage on that as it comes to light, especially when it concerns anything to do with a Malaysian premiere.