porsche 917 living legend 005
porsche 917 living legend 004
porsche 917 living legend 006
porsche 917 living legend 007
917 concept 003 qb0o
Feann Torr12 Sept 2019
NEWS

New Porsche hypercar gunning for Aston Martin Valkyrie

Porsche aims to retake title of world's fastest production car with a little help from Rimac

Forget the the F1-engined Mercedes-AMG ONE or even the Cosworth-powered V12 Aston Martin Valkyrie, because Porsche's next hypercar is being developed to outclass them both.

That was the bold pronouncement from the bloke in charge of creating one of the fastest, more capable mainstream EV sports cars to date, the Porsche Taycan.

"Our target is always, no matter what car we're doing, to have the sportiest car in the segment," Dr Stefan Weckbach, Porsche's head of EV projects, told carsales.com.au during a roundtable interview at the 2019 Frankfurt motor show.

And it's going to achieve this feat with a little help from its Croatian buddies at Rimac Automobili.

porsche 917 living legend 007

That would mean the next Porsche hypercar, expected to arrive around 2025 and potentially previewed by the 917 retro concept (pictured), will have to out-muscle the Valkyrie, whose V12 hybrid powertrain smashes out an insane 865kW or 1160hp.

Aston Martin says the Valkyrie will be the fastest street-legal car ever made when it launches later in 2019. But Porsche is clearly keen to reclaim the title once held by the 918 Spyder super-hybrid and before that the V10-powered Carrera GT and the iconic 959.

"Well, all of those Porsche super and hypercars, they aim to be the best in the market at the time. This is the target for the next one as well," said Weckbach.

It's almost certain the next Porsche hypercar will leverage high-performance EV engineering solutions pioneered by Croation supercar brand Rimac.

917 concept 003 qb0o

After buying a 10 per cent share in Rimac in mid-2018, Porsche upped its stake in the company to 15.5 just days before the world premiere of the Taycan at the 2019 Frankfurt motor show.

"We see potential for future co-operation with this company, that's why we raised our stake in Rimac," said Weckback.

Hyundai has also sunk tens of millions of dollars into Rimac to develop Korea's first supercar and, coincidentally, Rimac supplies components for the Aston Martin Valkyrie's electric powertrain.

"I think they are extremely successful in the field of high-end all-electric engineering," observed Weckbach of Rimac, which is now seen as a tier-one supplier of high-performance EV technology.

porsche 917 living legend 007

"The knowledge exchange between them and us is valuable for both parties. So we just decided to strengthen our relationship," said the Porsche EV chief.

Key to the performance of Porsche’s next hypercar will be the debut of next-generation EV technology, possibly even solid-state batteries as Porsche chairman Oliver Blume stated back in March.

But it's clear there's an arm-wrestle going on within company about which direction it the new hypercar should take.

Porsche's boxer engine development manager, Markus Baumann, wants to see some kind of combustion engine in a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain.

Weckback agrees but says that whether it’s all-electric or not, solid-state batteries won’t be ready in time for Porsche’s next hypercar.

porsche 917 living legend 006

"I'm pretty sure solid-state batteries are going to be the next step. I think there's going to be a technology step in lithium-ion batteries within the next few years, but is solid-state [technology] … ready for industrialisation and mass market within the next five years? I don’t know, but I don’t believe it,” he said.

"I think it's rather talking about seven to 10 years. So there's different ideas and discussions ongoing and there will definitely be a next Porsche hypercar in the market, but I cannot tell you today when [it will be], and what the technology of it would be."

When pushed on the topic of using Rimac electric motors to crush Aston Martin, Weckbach didn't rule it out.

porsche 917 living legend 004

"If it's all-electric it might be an approach … might be a Porsche motor as well," he said, suggesting his personal preference is to employ a hybrid powertrain.

"It's much too early to talk about any technical concepts or details of an upcoming, potentially upcoming hypercar. There's many ideas.

"If you look at 919 hybrid [race car], for example, it was a very small V4 engine, highly electrified. There's a big range of cars that we could do and we need to have a sound internal discussion in order to make sure the next supercar … is a benchmark as its predecessors."

Whatever eventuates, one thing is clear: Porsche wants to wrest back the title of world's fastest road-legal production car – and it has a big bag of tricks with which to pursue this objective.

Share this article
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.

If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
Download the carsales app
    AppStoreDownloadGooglePlayDownload
    App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
    © CAR Group Ltd 1999-2024
    In the spirit of reconciliation we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.