malmasri

Not sure how you came to this conclusion I was one of the people that sat in the car, took a ride in a 918 test car at Barber,etc etc....
Porsche went after every potential buyer like never before.

RINGMEISTER27

That must have been a great experience! Did you end up buying one?

malmasri

Porsche will most likely lose money on the project, having said so I still could not see the value of 1m in it.

Z356

Re: the 918 Spyder: Porsche has stated that it plans to build just 918 examples of that model for the world market. The exclusive materials going into the 918 are a matter of public record - Porsche has been pretty forthcoming with all of that. As 'malsmasri' has posted, prospective buyers have been taken to Barber in Alabama, Las Vegas (NV) and The Thermal Club (CA) to drive (or be driven) the 918 prototypes! And Porsche has allowed potential US customers to touch & sit in the 918 prototypes since it was first shown at the Monterey Jet Center in the summer of 2010!

As to whether Porsche has marketed the 918 'correctly', only time will tell! If they sell all 918 examples without discounting them - they have succeeded! We will know pretty soon how successful they have been. Start of production has been delayed several times. The latest official announcement is that the 918 will be put into actual production in March of 2014 at Zuffenhausen.

The vehicle is a technology tour de force. It has gotten rave reviews*. I am personally not thrilled with the weight & expense of the Hybrid technology. But I am not the targeted customer for this type of vehicle. However, I am hoping that most of the engineering invested in the 918 will eventually end up being put to use in the upcoming mid-engine 960 model (the FeFi). That is the model which is aimed at folks like those in this particular forum - the prospective customers of past gt3's, gt3 RS's, gt2's and gt2 RS's!

Saludos,
Eduardo

* Don't be discouraged by Steve Sutcliffe recent article on the P1 vs 918.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/mclar...der-which-best

Just a few weeks ago, Steve praised the 918 to 'high heaven' when he drove the Porsche at Valencia. So take what he says now with a grain of North Sea English salt!

Larry Cable

+1 Eduardo, all the manufacturers seem to have got into a 'cold war arms race' over hybrid hypercars ... a real shame in my opinion ... I think Porsche should offer a 917.5 package where they throw the batteries and electric motor out ... I wonder what the resulting bhp/ton would be if it only had the petrol engine?

Even better, then put a manual box in it too ...

RINGMEISTER27

While ordering my GT3, I got my impression from a Porsche rep that said many buyers lost their appeal because of the lack of first hand interaction with the concept. It seems this may not be the case from member comments and experience. Although I'm not a fan of this new "hybrids can be performance cars too" trend, I do like the 918. Whoever decides to own one is lucky to have such a techno trophy and Porsche is lucky to have such faithful customers. The 918 is a representation of the future of Porsche and we will see it's tech trickle down to other models in one way or another. I hope the 918 does well and it's owners give positive feed back to give Porsche the confidence to design even more focused sports cars, just with less weight and batteries!

Dan39

"I hope the 918 does well... and it's owners give positive feed back to give Porsche the confidence to design even more focused sports cars, just with less weight and batteries!"

I too want my future Porsche sports cars to be lighter-weight and come without batteries (and let's throw in track-proven while we're at it) and for that reason I want the 918 program to fail massively as it is set to do.

Let's have a RS Spyder for the road, please. That's what the 918 ought to have been. Instead, it is a technological albatross of European green-sensitive compromise.

It will get utterly embarrassed at the Ring by the P1 and La Ferrari official figures when they are released (6:3x). Hopefully the reputational damage from that and financial losses will be enough to bring Porsche back to basics.

RINGMEISTER27

^ LMAO

tmg57

And it's ok for Ferrari and McLaren to run hybrid drive systems because......?

aussie jimmy

they are in f1

Dan39

I dislike all three concepts, but the Porsche is the worst by hundreds of kilograms.

Quoting:

Even with the weight saving “Weissach Package” installed, the 918 murders the scales at 1665kg. Beside the P1 – which weighs 1490kg all up or 1395kg “dry” without fluids – that looks cumbersome. And beside The Ferrari – a mere 1255kg dry so call it around 1345kg all up – it seems downright bloated.

sechsgang

I hope to high heaven the big wigs see the opportunity with the 960 to do just this...I want that RS V8 so badly!

Jon70

My understanding is that the 918 and P1 have an E-mode to increase economy as well as performance while the LaFerrari only uses its hybrid tech for performance gains only. Also, the LaFerrari should be the fastest based on power to weight ratios:
LaFerrari 707hp/ton
P1 606hp/ton
918 477 hp/ton

redleg321

The dry weight of the LaFiat is very nearly 1,000 lbs (!!!!) lighter than a 918's curb. How does that make any engineering or marketing sense at all when we're talking about seven-figure price tags? What an incredible set of data these hyper cars are producing.

95spiderman

ferrari dry weight is figment of imagination. i would add 300 lbs for laFerrari in real world.

i know 918 puts e power to front wheels but what about laf and p1? are they awd also?