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Watch a Porsche Cayenne tow an Airbus A380, earn a world record

Don't expect Porsche to raise the Cayenne's tow rating to 628,000 pounds, though.

Headshot of Andrew Krok
Headshot of Andrew Krok
Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
Porsche

Just because the Cayenne's tow rating is under 10,000 pounds doesn't mean it isn't capable of some spectacular one-off feats, like towing an airplane.

Porsche used a European-spec 2017 Cayenne S Diesel to earn the Guinness World Record for the heaviest aircraft pulled by a production car. It pulled an Air France Airbus A380, which weighs about 285 metric tons (approximately 628,000 pounds). The previous record holder pulled just 170 metric tons, so this is a big improvement.

The Cayenne was not modified to achieve this record. It used a standard tow bar, to which a special towing attachment was secured. After all, there's no off-the-shelf solution when you decide to tow an airliner with a bone-stock Porsche sport ute.

The Cayenne diesel's engine puts out about 375 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. Just to make sure it wasn't a lucky fluke, Porsche repeated the tow using a Cayenne Turbo S. While this definitely proves the towing capability of a Porsche Cayenne, I think it's safe to say owners shouldn't be trying this at home.

Porsche Cayenne blasts past tow rating, pulls Air France Airbus A380

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