Tuesday, March 2, 2010 |
07:46 - Porsche pulls an Apple
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/geneva-auto-show-porsche-918-spyder-plug-
|
(top) |
Well, well. A true surprise at Geneva that nobody was expecting.
This must be what they were talking about when they said Porsche in the post-Wiedeking era would be getting back to its pre-Panamera, pre-Cayenne roots: the 918 Spyder.
Yeah. That's more like it.
Oh wait:
Yeah, no exhausts, because it's a HYBRID. A 500-hp hybrid, no less.
What is it? A plug-in hybrid that Porsche says is capable of lapping the “Nordschleife of Nürburgring in less than 7:30 minutes, faster than even the Porsche Carrera GT.” What’s more, Porsche says fuel economy should be somewhere around 78 miles per gallon. How does it do it? The 918 Spyder concept is powered by a 500-horsepower gasoline V-8 and electric motors on the front and rear axle (the two electric motors make a combined 160 kilowatts of power, or the equivalent of 218 horsepower). Total power output is 718 horsepower. Porsche is not saying whether the 918 Spyder concept will go into production, but don’t bet against it. The technology is just too promising, the styling too delectable.
Wait a sec, hang on here:
Oh wait IT DOES HAVE EXHAUSTS. Criminy.
Hybrid and flappy paddles, yeah, granted. But that styling... yow. That right there is everything that made the Carrera GT cool, but amped up and made even more sexy. Porsche designers don't get the kind of name recognition that the Ian Callums and Chris Bangles of the world do; but someone really deserves to get noted for this one.
And if Porsche has recognized the error of its ways in making SUVs and luxury sedans instead of thoroughbred sports/supercars, then a paddle-shifted hybrid with dorky plastic discs on the wheels that you have to take off to clean when they gunk up with brake dust may just be a compromise I can learn to live with.
Jalopnik says:
Combined with the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid and the Ferrari 599 Hybrid, it's becoming clear that the era of oil-swilling supercars is drawing to a close and faux eco-friendly supercars are taking over. We're kind of ok with that. While we don't fell the need to lie to the world with a bunch of powertrain technology no one understands, if this means our hobby - driving fast - returns to social acceptability, then maybe this is a good thing.
This is much the same conclusion that Top Gear reached regarding the Honda FCX Clarity: just because the bulk of cars will probably one day run on alternative power sources, that doesn't mean the internal combustion engine will die, nor the concept of the supercar or high-speed driving. In fact, just as the automobile did not make the horse extinct, but rather rescued it from an industrial life of manual labor and turned it into something recreational and well-loved, that's what we can expect for sports cars in the future too. In the most optimistic of all outcomes, we'll have our fire-breathing V-12s, and no greeniacs will bother complaining because even they will realize how small an impact a few well-maintained enthusiasts' playthings make in the scheme of things.
Hell, they might even relax some regulations on those cars, if the economics are such that using fully green-compliant tech for the everyday 90% of traffic on the road is the easier choice anyway. Wouldn't that be a surreal turn?
|
|