Despite Porsche’s recent ambitious claims to have engineered an electric vehicle with uniquely repeatable performance, Bjørn Nyland has just demonstrated that the already-on-sale Tesla Model 3 has long since been capable of repeatable performance.
Despite not surpassing some of its combustion peers over the full lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, a recently released onboard lap video shows that the Porsche Taycan has effectively outperformed its Panamera sibling (and the BMW M5 and M5 Competition) over the twisty first half of the course. This indicates that on the vast majority of the world’s race circuits, where mid-speed corners dominate over high speed straightaways, the Taycan will be able to lap faster than the Panamera and similar 4-door saloons, such as the BMW M5.
In a recent review of the Tesla Model 3 by German newspaper Die Welt, auto industry expert Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer is quoted as saying that Tesla has a huge lead over the competition. “The technical lead is easily four to five years. Range and driving pleasure are unmatched.”
The first batch of Tesla Model 3s have been spotted in the UK, being shipped from the port in Dover/Folkestone and heading towards London. First deliveries are scheduled to begin in the coming week.
Top Gear has released the video accompanying its recent report of a Tesla Model 3 Performance beating a BMW M3 around a race track, which we covered last week. Check out the video here!
Top Gear magazine has track tested the Tesla Model 3 Performance head to head against fossil fans’ favorite sports saloon, the BMW M3. The track times were conducted on the 2 mile Thunderhill Raceway Park West circuit, with the Tesla coming in a significant 2 seconds ahead of the (more expensive) BMW. Fossils must now accept all-round inferiority in the performance realm.
The Tesla Model 3 has been shipping for just over a year now in a single powertrain configuration — the Long Range version with the Performance Upgrade Package. Tesla shared that the focus on versions of the car with higher profit margins was key to ramping up production in a financially wise way — leading to what it hopes to be the start of sustainable profitability in Q3 of this year.
Impressions from a test drive of the Tesla Model 3 Performance are beginning to filter in as more of the cars find their way to Tesla stores around the country. Here is one from Reddit.
Tesla has officially opened up test drives on its Model 3 and Model 3 Performance Edition at select stores around the United States, according to several sources at the automaker.
