Porsche 918 Spyder Has A Development Story Unlike Any Other
Donut Media, gives historical overview of Porsche’s flagship hypercar and how it builds up on the legacy of the Carrera GT and the 959.
Along with the McLaren P1 and the Ferrari LaFerrari, the Porsche 918 Spyder represents the future of road-going supercars, which will aspire to combine high-performance track capabilities with fancy, green credentials so as to appeal to the growing breed of eco-conscious luxury buyers.
“The 918 [Spyder] is a hybrid monster pushing the boundaries of engineering,” says Donut Media’s James Pumphrey. “It’s got a naturally-aspirated 4.6-liter V8 … which delivers just over 600 horsepower. Then two additional electric motors [give] an extra 282 horses, making the total output … 887 [horsepower]. But it doesn’t mean much without torque … Luckily the 918 produces 944 [pound-feet] of it!”
The performance is unsurprisingly, brisk and breathtaking. “[The 918] broke a long-standing record at the Nurburgring, [being] the first street-legal production car to get a lap under seven minutes,” says Pumphrey. “[Furthermore] Car and Driver tested the 918 and achieved a … 0-60 miles per hour time of 2.2 seconds, which they claim is the fastest [accelerating] car they ever tested.”
Admittedly, the 918’s ‘Ring time has since been eclipsed by three, comparatively cheaper, supercars, which are being retailed by the same corporation. In case you are wondering, these three cars are, the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, the Aventador SVJ and the Porsche 911 GT2 RS).
However, that does not change the fact that the 918 is still a technological tour-de-force and one of the most significant hypercars ever made. Indeed, this is why, for many customers, the Porsche hypercar is an investment asset, and not just a lifestyle product.