The Porsche 918 Spyder will not get a power upgrade despite trailing the outputs of its recently released hybrid hypercar rivals, the brand’s product chief has confirmed.
In an interview with the UK’s Car magazine, Porsche product manager James Eastwood admitted the 918 Spyder would be heavier and less powerful than the Ferrari LaFerrari and the McLaren P1 when it launched in September, but would not be put to shame around a track.
“Although our car is heavier, its technology can make the car faster [in certain conditions],” Eastwood said.
“In rear-drive cars like our competitors, you still have to do all your braking in a straight line, compromising corner-entry speed. Thanks to the 918’s torque vectoring and independently driven front wheels, we can maintain better drive and achieve higher entry and mid-corner speed.”
Eastwood confirmed the Porsche 918 Spyder would weigh 1700kg – 1650kg when ordered with the lightweight Weissach package – making it significantly heavier than the circa-1270kg LaFerrari and the 1400kg P1, although he said the car’s four-wheel steering system would create the illusion of stripping weight from the vehicle.
“It makes the car so agile that over a racing lap it’s worth an extra 50bhp (37kW) of power – or removing 100kg of weight. That’s another reason we don’t have to up the 918’s power to beat our rivals.”
The Porsche 918 Spyder teams a 430kW/500Nm 4.6-litre V8, two front-mounted electric motors with 180kW and an 85kW electric motor on the rear axle for a combined output of 614kW of power and 780Nm of torque. That compares with 708kW and 900Nm-plus for the Ferrari and 673kW and 900Nm for the McLaren.
All three manufacturers say their cars will accelerate from 0-100km/h in less than 3.0 seconds.
Eastwood insisted the 918 Spyder would be the most fuel efficient of the trio, however, its 3.4 litres per 100km combined rating easily bettering the LaFerrari (approximately 14L/100km) and the P1 (approximately 8.4L/100km).
While punters have already snapped up all 499 LaFerraris, Eastwood said the Porsche was yet to sell out of it supercar, production of which has been capped to 918 units.
