Photo: Porsche
Porsche’s now-iconic 918 Spyder hybrid hypercar first launched almost a decade ago, and production was sold out by 2014. Years have passed and the company has managed to make versions of its 911 faster around the track than this massively powerful all-wheel-drive carbon tub hybrid monster, which says a lot about the development of chassis, suspension, advanced driver assist suites, and tires. At a certain point things become too fast for even the most advanced driver to enjoy, so should Porsche even bother building a new hypercar for the street? Does the 918 Spyder really need a successor when something like the 991 GT2 RS is as quick as it is? Let’s look at it from both sides.
Yes, Porsche should build a new hypercar model
There is really only one answer to why Porsche should build a new hypercar, and that’s because the company will sell every single one it builds. The world’s wealthy are jumping at the chance to buy seven-figure hypercars, and a Porsche with 1000 horsepower and crazy aero with super low lap times at Laguna Seca or whatever, that’s all Porsche needs to do to sell every one. Why sell 20,000 Carreras for six figures when you can sell 2,000 hyper Porsches for seven figures? Work smarter, not harder.
There are rumors that a successor to the 918 is finally coming after nine years. It would make sense that Porsche wants to yet again show off its engineering prowess. The company seems to run hypercars in a very German 10 year cycle. The 959 first launched in 1986, followed by the 911 GT1 Strassenversion in 1996. Eight years later the Carrera GT was launched in 2004, followed nine years later by the 918 Spyder. If Porsche showed off a hypercar right now, it would certainly be at least a year before the thing made production, so let’s call it a potential for the 2023 model year, meaning it would be nine years from the 918. The math speaks for itself.
No, Porsche should not build a new hypercar model
The cynical side of me has determined that a new hypercar would do little to grow the Porsche brand. Everybody already knows Porsche as a sports car brand, despite two thirds of the company’s new car sales being SUVs. It’s time for the company to admit that it needs to redirect its focus on driver involvement instead of on-track performance. Give us lightweight low-power machines like those it built in the 1950s. A new 550 Spyder with a high-revving naturally-aspirated four cylinder would be totally fantastic, wouldn’t it? Instead of chasing a Nurburgring lap time, Porsche should once again build cars that are exclusively built to make you smile through a corner and work the wheel and gear stick to go quickly. Now is the time for the company to once again build giant killers instead of giants.
