Porsche 918 Spyder Update: Larger V8, Fewer Electric Motors

It's been almost half a year since we last heard anything about Porsche's 918 Spyder Hybrid supercar. Few details have come forward since the German sports car maker confirmed that it was heading for production, but now we've been fed some information to tide us over until the production model comes to fruition.

Published in Porsche's Christophorus Magazine, the 918 Spyder is destined to make its production debut at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show and will sport some changes from the concept car we saw back in 2010 at the Geneva Motor Show.

Its powerplant will now be a 4.6L V8 rather than the 3.4L V8 originally announced. And while there's more displacement, there's also a ton of new technology to go with it. That includes a central injector mounted directly adjacent to a spark plug, a central oil feed to the crankshaft, a variable-pressure composite oil pump and scavenge pump, forged lightweight pistons from a Formula 1 supplier, a very high compression ratio and variable valve timing, which is a Porsche first.

The new 4.6L V8 is still based on the race-bred V8 found in the original RS Spyder LMP2 race car. Rumors have it that the new motor will produce around 550-hp and that the 918 will loose one of its three electric motors originally seen in the concept. The remaining pair will generate a combined 230-hp, so the combined output should be around 760-hp.

The dry weight of the vehicle is estimated to be 3,700-lbs and for those interested, better start saving up to $845,000.

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