The Porsche follow-up to the 918 Spyder could be called the GT1.
Remember the Porsche 918 Spyder? Making its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show way back in 2013, it was the start of hybrid drive supercars from Porsche. The 918 Spyder demonstrated the potential of the hybrid drive to a degree never seen before, achieving a parallel improvement in both fuel efficiency and performance without compromising on either.
This is the one of the many ideas that has made the Porsche 911 the most successful sports car in the world for the past 50 years. In short, the 918 Spyder was the genetic blueprint for the Porsche sports cars of the future and one could say the ‘daddy’ to the highly successful Porsche Taycan.
Now, leaked information from a Porsche employee in their North America office suggests that the company is planning to release a new halo Porsche model, with selected bookings already being taken from repeat well known current Porsche VIP customers who have been sworn to secrecy.
A report from noted Porsche collector Spike Feresten suggests we could be seeing this all new flagship hyper-car from Porsche as soon as August this year which is just weeks away.
The 918 Spyder (pictured below) was powered by a 4.6 litre V8 engine, developing 580 horsepower, with two electric motors delivering an additional 243 horsepower.
It was the first plug-in hybrid car from Porsche. Porsche claimed at the launch that the 918 will easily do the 0-100 km/h acceleration run in just under 2.9 seconds and hit a top speed of 330km/h.
Porsche management planned to manufacture just 918 units of this sports car as a 2014 model year starting production on September 18, 2013, with deliveries to selected customers from early December 2013. Today, this car sits in private garages of the wealthy worldwide with very little tarmac time.
The selling price at the time was a hefty €768,026 which was about RM4 million in Malaysia with taxes and delivery charges added on. Porsche went on to unveil the RSR racing variant of the 918 at the 2011 North American International Auto Show, which combined hybrid technology first used in the 997 GT3 R Hybrid, with styling from the 918 Spyder.
So, will this new GT1 hyper-car use an advanced battery operated powertrain from the Taycan? Will the production of this GT1 be limited to just a few units like with the 918 Spyder and what will the total number be and why that number? Finally, the asking price. Will it be a fraction more than the 918 Spyder’s sticker price of €768,026 from 2013 or will it be lower since the technology is being widely used now in the Taycan.
