Porsche 918

Porsche as a brand has existed since April 1931. After a successful stint with Daimler and the consulting business that included the design and engineering of models like the VW Beetle and the 16-cylinder Auto Union Type 52, things finally started to fall into place, with Ferdinand Porsche’s dream of making the perfect sports car which came out in 1939. That said, the first mass-produced Porsche performance car – the 356 – did not arrive until well after WWII ended, debuting in 1948. Since then, the German marque has developed a stalwart image as one of the most prominent performance car manufacturers in the world. With a history spanning 93 years and counting, there are many iconic models, many of which were significant to Porsche’s development as a brand. Given Porsche’s storied history and rich motorsport heritage, the list of truly noteworthy Porsche models is impressively long. However, I managed to narrow it down to seven Porsche models, with each one being historically significant through the decades, and paving the way for future Porsches.

Porsche’s headlights are some of the most recognizable in the automotive industry. When it comes to the 911, the German sports car manufacturer has retained the classic forms since the 1964 original. This includes the round headlamps, which were present on almost all 911 generations, except the Porsche 996, featuring the controversial, "fried-egg" headlights. Like other carmakers, Porsche went from halogen to xenon headlights and, eventually, an LED setup on all its models. It started with the 993 generation, which introduced "Litronic” technology - Porsche’s first dabble in H.I.D. tech, only to be permanently replaced by LED technology over 20 years later. As Porsche says, "Light is identity, by day as well as by night", and the German brand’s current, four-line, LED headlight pattern is recognizable almost anywhere. The four-point LED principle, as Porsche likes to call it first became a feature on range-topping models, starting with the 2009 Porsche Panamera Turbo. Since then, the four-point headlight design has evolved and was extended to other Porsche models like the Cayenne, Taycan, 918 Spyder, and even the 911.

The Porsche 918 Spyder was an absolute beast, a hypercar that debuted the plug-in hybrid system and set the bar high for both performance and efficiency. Now, as the world awaits with bated breath for its successor, an unexpected muse emerges from the world of Bugatti: the Tourbillon. While the Tourbillon’s mind-blowing naturally aspirated V16 will remain its exclusive powertrain, could its more potent hybrid system hold the secrets to Porsche’s next hypercar adventure?

Porsche, a name that you usually associate with high-performance gasoline engines, surprised the automotive world when it entered the hybrid market back in the late 2010s. But the German automaker didn’t just introduce a new technology; they also subsequently introduced a new color – acid green (PTS Color Code: 2M8), which is now synonymous with plug-in hybrid Porsches. In this article, we’ll dive deep into this vivid shade and how this bold choice became a key element in establishing Porsche’s unique identity in the hybrid space.

After a successful eight-year reign and 500 examples later, the iconic Bugatti Chiron is bowing out, leaving behind an even outrageous successor, the Tourbillon. Taking its name from an intricate mechanism in a watch, this all-new hypercar just debuted on the 20th of June 2024 as a 2026 model year, boasting a unique hybrid powertrain that combines a Cosworth-developed 8.3-liter naturally aspirated V16 engine with three electric motors, pushing out a total of 1,775 horses! This marks a significant milestone for Bugatti, as the Tourbillon is the French carmaker’s first-ever hybrid vehicle.

Bugatti has kicked off an exciting new chapter with a YouTube docuseries. This series takes viewers on a journey into the brand’s future, led by the visionary Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti Rimac. The pilot episode, released on June 18th, features Rimac outlining his vision for the successor to the legendary Chiron supercar. The successor has big shoes to fill, but Mate seems up to the challenge. As a CEO who launched a hypercar company from his garage in Croatia, he understands the expectations of automobile enthusiasts everywhere. "Bugatti is a legacy built by extraordinary people," Rimac states in the film.

In the halcyon days of the 1980s, the Porsche 959, with its 2.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six engine, roared onto the automotive scene, making its claim as the fastest supercar of its era, and the first Porsche with a twin-turbo engine. Then, as the millennium dawned, Porsche gifted the world with the Carrera GT. It vroomed with a highly symphonic V10, a heart borrowed from motorsports, reminding many that it was perhaps the final analog supercar. But evolution, as they say, is inevitable. Enter the Porsche 918 Spyder, the spiritual successor to the Carrera GT and the world’s first plug-in hybrid supercar with two electric motors and a naturally aspirated V8 engine.