Elon Musk vs. Top Gear: Tesla CEO Continues His Feud With Popular Sportscar Program

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the "Top Gear" television program have been involved in a feud after a drag race on the program revealed that the Porsche Taycan Turbo S is faster than the Tesla Model S.

In a video of the "Top Gear" race, the Taycan recorded a 2.61 second zero-to-60 mph time during the race while the Tesla was at 2.68 seconds. In a zero-to-100 mph race and a quarter of a mile race, the Taycan also beat out the Tesla.

Musk has criticized the program, as it used the drag race results for the Tesla from a previous race. Musk maintains that the Tesla is faster, especially since it recently received a software upgrade that would increase its peak power by 50 horsepower.

This isn't the first time that Musk has engaged in a feud with "Top Gear."

In March 2011, Musk sued "Top Gear" for libel, claiming that the program staged an unfavorable test of the Tesla Roadster. Musk's assertion comes from a 2008 "Top Gear" episode, where host Jeremy Clarkson praised the Roadster for its acceleration, but the vehicle ran out of power after 55 miles of driving. The car then needed 16 hours to recharge.

"The Tesla is an astonishing technical achievement," Clarkson said in the episode. "It's just a shame in the real world, it doesn't seem to work."

The lawsuit from Tesla claimed that "The Roadster and its EV technology, as well as EVs generally, have been unfairly and viciously maligned by Top Gear."

A London judge threw out the case in October 2011, with Tesla then amending its suit. The court then threw out the suit again in February 2012, as the judge ruled that Tesla's amendment was "not capable of being defamatory or if it is, it is not capable of being a sufficiently serious defamatory meaning to constitute a real and substantial tort."

Tesla then filed an appeal, but it lost the appeal in March 2013.

In October 2013, Musk told BBC Newsnight that "Clarkson's show is much more about entertainment than about truth. His two pet peeves are American cars and electric cars and we're an American electric car, so we're in the worst possible situation for someone like Clarkson."

In December 2017, Clarkson called Musk "petulant" regarding his lawsuit. He told the Daily Beast that "I've got no ax to grind. He's the only who ever behaved in such a petulant way – most industry bosses are a lot more grown up."

In a February 2018 episode of "Top Gear," Clarkson positively reviewed the Tesla Model X, particularly its speed and acceleration. The episode did feature a team of lawyers, however, who would correct Clarkson in case he would make any unsubstantiated claims about the vehicle.