2011 Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid

Officially it’s alone a concept, but there’s no agnosticism that activity XG10 -- or the 918 Spyder abstraction -- will pave the way for the abutting Porsche supercar. And what a supercar it is activity to be: in accession to the commonly aspirated, high-revving, 3.4-liter V-8 acceptable for added than 495 hp, the arresting 918 Spyder has three electric motors onboard that add addition 215 hp to the tally. Says Wolfgang Dürheimer, lath affiliate in allegation of R&D: “This car can lap the Nürburgring faster than the Carrera GT. At the aforementioned time, it averages 78 mpg [on the EU active cycle] aback apprenticed gently. Are we activity to body it? We will absolutely accompany some bare sales affairs to the Geneva show, but it’s too aboriginal to allocution pricing, assembly volumes, and timing.

"The cardinal aim is to authenticate that alike a supercar can be environmentally friendly. XG10 promises absolute active pleasure—and a bright conscience. This is a trendsetting and acceptable exceptional artefact that uses the affair of amusing acceptability to its advantage. And it reflects the bequest of Ferry Porsche, who was assertive that sports cars would never go out of fashion.”

XG10 stands for X1, Geneva 2010. X1 is the cipher name of the 918 Spyder, which is alone one adaptation of many. Potential variations accommodate a 918 coupe, an electric 918, and a 918 RS/RSR. This car can be either two- or four-wheel drive, accept constituent electric or gasoline power, appear with an accessible top or a anchored roof, and be either a racer or a artery machine. Its abiogenetic change dates aback to the 1997 Porsche GT1, which was a Le Mans–winning 911 on steroids. That car triggered activity LMP 2000 (Porsche’s agitative Le Mans improvement car), which was apoplectic at the eleventh hour by then-chairman Wendelin Wiedeking, who was consistently added of a numbers man than a car guy.

Thankfully, Wiedeking and his controller, Holger Härter, accustomed Dürheimer to aces up the LMP pieces and catechumen them into the street-legal Carrera GT, which was launched in 2003 and begin 1250 takers. In 2006, Porsche confused on to anatomy the base of the acknowledged RS Spyder. Four years later, we’re witnessing the admission of XG10, which still uses several Carrera GT elements, such as the advanced abeyance and the advanced structure. For 2011, assembly are already admiration LMP1, a chase adaptation of the 918 Spyder, which would accede with planned hybrid-friendly Le Mans regulations