A Porsche Cayenne Tows A Jumbo Jet To Set A New Record

Porsche would be feeling at the top of the world now, as its SUV, Cayenne S has just set an impressive new world record for pulling the world's largest passenger aircraft, the mighty double-deck Airbus A380 weighing 285-tonnes. This record was set first set by the Volkswagen Touareg over ten years ago when it towed a 155-ton Boeing 747 jumbo jet for 150 meters, then  the Nissan Patrol towed a 170-ton cargo plane in 2013 to break the record.

Porsche teamed up with Air France at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for the publicity stunt, using a Cayenne S Diesel producing 385 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque of pulling power from its 4.1-liter V8 and it was driven by Porsche GB technician Richard Payne.

Despite the heft of the Airbus A380, this was enough to allow the diesel SUV to tow the jumbo jet for 42 meters, setting a new Guinness World Record for 'Heaviest aircraft pull by a production car', beating the Nissan Patrol’s previous record by 115 tonnes.  

“It did it – I’m so relieved! We don’t usually go this far to test the limits of our cars but I think today we got pretty close,” Payne said.

“I could tell that it was working hard but the Cayenne didn’t complain and just got on with it. My mirrors were quite full of Airbus, which was interesting. Our cars can go a bit beyond what our customers might expect – they’re designed to be tough. But even so, what the Cayenne did today was remarkable."