Elon Musk was caught lying about Tesla’s Cybertruck beating a Porsche 911 in a quarter-mile race that never actually happened.
The CEO reiterated the claim, despite it having been debunked for more than a year.
When Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck, it released a video of the electric pickup truck beating a Porsche 911 in what it claimed to be a 1/4 mile race while towing a Porsche 911.
They released a video of the race and then CEO Elon Musk claimed:
“It can tow a Porsche 911 across the 1/4 mile faster than the Porsche 911 can go by itself.”
However, the claim was quickly challenged for many different reasons.
First off, Tesla is comparing the top-of-the-line Cybertruck, the Cyberbeast, with the Porsche 911 Carrera T, which is the slowest 911. There are literally more than half a dozen variants of the 911 that are faster than the Carrera T or the Cybertruck.
There are some layers to this. Of course, Tesla is trying to highlight an electric pickup truck beating a sports car at “doing what it does best” while the pickup is doing what it does best.
For that, we can let slide the fact that Tesla used a lesser 911.
However, more importantly, the quarter-mile race never actually took place. From the video itself, you can see that the race finishes halfway from the speed boards, which mark the quarter mile.
It means that Tesla only filmed a 1/8-mile race.
The Cybertruck’s lead engineer, Wes Morrill, confirmed that the quarter-mile race never happened outside of simulations:
“The fastest 1/8mi CT hit while towing on the day was 7.808s at 88mph and the trailer tires were only rated to 80mph so we opted to call it a day before someone got hurt. Our simulations showed the full 1/4 mi race would be close but with the same net result, so no need to risk it. We also had some room to further lightweight the trailer but didn’t need to.”
Engineering Explained did the math and challenged the claim that the Cybertruck would beat the 911 while towing:
Furthermore, several people have since recreated a full quarter-mile race, and the Porsche 911 consistently beats the Cybertruck.
Yet, more than a year after the claim was fully debunked, CEO Elon Musk repeated it again:
Tesla has since dropped the claim that the Cybertruck is beating the 911 on the “quarter-mile” and instead only refers to a drag race. However, the CEO is still repeating the quarter-mile claim he made in 2023 when Tesla unveiled the production version of the Cybertruck.
Electrek’s Take
This is an excellent example of Elon Musk or Tesla exaggerating a claim when the truth is already impressive.
They could have performed the 1/8 mile race, made the claim, and it would have been tremendous and truthful marketing.
With that said, I think the whole EV drag race stuff is a bit played out. We know that electric powertrains perform exceptionally well in drag races.
The Porsche 911 is not really a drag race machine; it is a fun sports car that is enjoyable to drive and would ultimately smoke a Cybertruck on an extended race with a lot of cornering.
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