Porsche Gives 918 Spyder Supercar the Green Light
By Chris Haak
Porsche AG’s supervisory board just gave the company approval to develop the well-received 918 Spyder supercarfor sale. The company had previously announced that it had to have firm commitments for 1,000 cars in order to justify the 918 Spyder’s production. Apparently, that milestone has been achieved, and the company actually received 2,000 non-binding commitments, of which presumably at least half were binding.
The car will be developed in Stuttgart at a research facility near Porsche’s headquarter, and will be produced at Porsche’s main plant in Zuffenhausen.
The 918 Spyder will be Porsche’s most-costly roadgoing car ever, likely topping €500,000 ($650,000), which is more than the previous record-holder, the €453,000 Carrera GT’s asking price. Still, one could argue that the car is a bargain when looking at some of its extreme competition like the Aston Martin One-77 and Bugatti Veyron.
To refresh your memory as to the nature of this car, allow me to include an excerpt from our initial coverage of the car at the time of its Geneva debut in March 2010:
So what is the 918 Spyder Hybrid Concept? It’s a low-emission, fuel-efficient, hybrid sports car. Under its hood is a 3.4 liter V8 from the RS Spyder race car, which produces over 500 horsepower. But wait, there’s more: it also has electric motors on the front and rear axles that add another 218 horsepower. Because torque and power peaks don’t occur at the same place on the power curves for both powerplants, you can’t just say it has a “718+ horsepower drivetrain,” but clearly, it’s an extremely powerful one. The engine puts its power to the ground via a 7-speed dual-clutch PDK gearbox.
It’s also very fuel efficient. Thanks to exotic materials such as magnesium, aluminum, and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, the 918 Spyder Hybrid Concept tips the scales at 3,285 pounds, and returns fuel consumption of 3 liters/100 kilometers (equivalent to 78 mpg US), according to Porsche. The car’s incredible fuel economy numbers makes the fact that it can lap the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife in less than 7:30 minutes, faster than even the Porsche Carrera GT’s time. The 918 Spyder also accelerates from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds and tops out at 198 miles per hour.
Sounds good to us. Now, can anyone spot me a few million, please? The car may go on sale as soon as 2013.
