Modified Porsche Taycan sets Nürburgring record

Porsche’s latest Nürburgring headline is not about a brand-new Taycan. It’s about what happens when Porsche and Manthey Racing treat an EV sedan like one of the company’s hardcore GT cars. On May 7, Lars Kern drove a Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach Package and a new Manthey Kit around the Nordschleife in 6:55.533, giving Porsche a fresh production EV record. The point is simple — electric sedans are now deep into the same lap-time arms race that used to belong mostly to supercars and track specials. ### What actually set the record? The car was a Porsche Taycan Turbo GT with the Weissach Package, fitted with a Manthey Kit that Porsche says was developed specifically for circuit use. Manthey is not some random tuner — it has been Porsche’s go-to partner for very serious track-focused upgrades on 911 GT models, and this is the first time that formula has been applied to one of Porsche’s electric road cars in this way. (newsroom.porsche.com) Lars Kern, Porsche’s regular record-lap specialist, drove the run. ### What is the Manthey Kit? Basically, it’s a bundle of changes aimed at making the Taycan survive and attack a fast lap more efficiently. Porsche highlights suspension work, aero changes, and braking-focused details rather than a huge power bump. That matters because modern EV lap times are often limited less by peak horsepower than by how well the car manages weight, tire load, heat, and consistency over a full lap. (newsroom.porsche.com) Porsche says the kit will be offered from June as a retrofit for all Taycan Turbo GTs with the Weissach Package. ### Why is 6:55.533 a big deal? Because that is properly quick, not just “quick for an EV sedan.” The lap beat Porsche’s own October 2023 Taycan Turbo GT Weissach record by 12 seconds, and Porsche says it was more than 9 seconds faster than the previous record holder in the luxury EV class. On the Nürburgring, 12 seconds is enormous — it usually means the gains came from several systems all working better at once, not one flashy change. (newsroom.porsche.com) A notary was present to certify the time, which is how these official Nürburgring claims are usually locked down. ### Wasn’t Porsche already fast here? Yes — but the gap is the story. Porsche had already pushed the Taycan hard in 2024, when a pre-series Taycan ran 7:07.55, and then the production Taycan Turbo GT raised the bar again. This new lap shows Porsche still found another big chunk of time without changing the car’s basic identity. Turns out the next frontier for fast EVs is not always more power. It’s the boring, expensive, race-car stuff — damping, aero balance, tires, and confidence over curbs. (newsroom.porsche.com) ### Why does Manthey matter so much? Manthey has become Porsche’s shorthand for “factory-adjacent track obsession.” When a Porsche gets a Manthey package, the message is that the company is chasing repeatable lap-time performance, not just brochure numbers. Bringing that approach to the Taycan tells you Porsche thinks EVs belong in the same credibility game as its GT-badged combustion cars. That is a branding move, but it is also a product statement. (newsroom.porsche.com) ### Is this still a production-car record? Porsche is framing it that way, and the key detail is that the Manthey Kit is a road-car retrofit package rather than a one-off prototype setup. The catch is that Nürburgring records live inside lots of categories — luxury EV, production EV, sedan, road-legal special, and so on. So the cleanest takeaway is not “fastest EV of every kind.” It’s that Porsche has put a road-legal Taycan with an announced customer kit at the top of this slice of the board. (newsroom.porsche.com) ### So why should anyone outside Porsche fandom care? Because this is where EV performance is maturing. Early fast EV headlines were about shocking acceleration. Now the fight is about whether a heavy electric car can brake late, rotate cleanly, stay cool, and repeat the trick on a brutal circuit. Porsche just made the case that the answer is yes — if you engineer the whole package like a race car. ### Bottom line? (newsroom.porsche.com) This record is really a proof-of-concept. Porsche didn’t just make the Taycan brutally fast in a straight line. It made the car look like a serious track platform — and that is a bigger flex.