Top Gear proves Elon Musk wrong about the Tesla Model 3

The Top Gear show has conducted a half-mile drag race between a maxed-out Tesla Model 3 and three of its gas-powered rivals: an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifolgio, a Mercedes-AMG C 63 S, and a BMW M3. The team wanted to find out just whether the BEV could actually best the fossil-fueled competition in terms of raw acceleration performance.

Why even bother setting up such a seemingly imbalanced race? Truth is, Tesla CEO Elon Musk let it drop once that a Tesla Model 3 with the Performance package installed could best any other vehicle in its market segment. This is precisely what Top Gear wanted to prove or disprove.

In its Performance trim, the Tesla Model 3 means 456 horsepower (340 kilowatts) under the hood, heavy-duty brakes, low suspension, racing-spec powertrain settings, 20-inch wheels and 3.2 seconds from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph).

In turn, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifolgio musters up to 510 hp (380 kW) from its V6. The BMW M3 sends 431 hp (321 kW) to the wheels, and the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S packs a four-liter mill likewise good for 510 hp (380 kW).

As it turned out, Tesla didn’t really stand a chance against such power players as these. The beginning of the video has it boldly pulling ahead of the competition – only to fall behind moments later.

Photos: motor1.com