Porsche goes electric

This morning, at a press conference at the Geneva Auto Show, Porsche revealed three new advanced hybrid vehicles that include a high-performance super sports car concept, a revolutionary new race car and Porsche's first production hybrid, the new Cayenne S Hybrid.

Porsche's President and CEO Michael Macht took the wraps off what promises to be one of the show's highlights, the 918 Spyder – a mid-engine super sports car concept that employs plug-in hybrid technology to achieve approximately 78 mpg while also providing the raw power needed to propel it from a standing start to 100km/h (62 miles per hour) in under 3.2 seconds (See video Home Page).

Macht also revealed another innovative hybrid technology developed especially for racing – the 911 GT3 R Hybrid that uses two electric motors on the front axle to supplement the 480 horsepower engine driving the rear wheels. Instead of the heavy batteries usually found in a hybrid road car, an electrical flywheel power generator is installed next to the driver delivering energy to the electric motors.

The Cayenne S Hybrid, shown in Geneva for the first time along with the family of all-new Cayennes S is Porsche's first production hybrid and goes on sale in the United States this fall. The Cayenne S Hybrid features a highly sophisticated full parallel hybrid system that combines the power of a 333-horsepower V6 with an 47-horsepower electric motor; thereby offering 380 horsepower and essentially the high performance of a V8 with the fuel efficiency of a V6.

These three hybrid models set the new benchmark in Porsche's tradition of offering new cars that are sportier and more dynamic while using less fuel and producing fewer emissions Such an ongoing increase in efficiency is the quintessence of 60 years of sports car construction now described most appropriately by the term "Porsche Intelligent Performance".