What's the news?
Porsche has shown the highly anticipated 918 Spyder in full production-ready form in a picture posted on the company's official Twitter page. Although the 918 Spyder has already officially made its world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this is the first time that a production version has been seen, as the one at Goodwood was still in the late pre-production stages.
On release, the 918 Spyder will be pitted against the LaFerrari and the McLaren P1; both of which have more than 900hp on tap - more than Porsche's 886hp. This power is made up of a naturally aspirated 4.6-litre V8 petrol engine developing 608hp revving to 9,150rpm, coupled to a 149hp electric motor on the rear axle, and a 129hp electric motor on the front. The instant torque from the two electric motors means that, despite it having less power, the 918 Spyder can still keep up with the Ferrari and McLaren by posting a sub-three-second 0-62mph time, hitting 125mph in less than eight seconds, and going on to a top speed of 202mph.
While all these performance figures sound incredible, they sound even better when you remember that the 918 Spyder does all this while emitting just 70g/km of CO2 and achieving an unbelievable combined economy figure of 94.1mpg.
Anything else?
And as you would imagine, all this technology, power and exclusivity doesn't come cheap. The standard model comes to market bearing a £628,000 price tag. Later on, a Weissach performance package can also be specified, bringing the price up to an eye-watering £745,000.
James Giddings - 16 Aug 2013