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A few pre-race notes and a lot of photos from the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 82nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is on.
Audi has won 12 of the last 15 events, the scion of Auto Union is trying to make it 13 this year. To do so, it will have to overcome a situation faced only three other times during its dominance of La Sarthe: underdog status. Toyota has won the first two races of the year and claimed pole for this race, the rumor being that this year it's Toyota's race to lose.
And then there's Porsche. It's been 16 years since the Stuttgart brand raced on the top rung at Le Mans, three years years since it announced its return, just a year since it acquired Mark Webber in a signing that wasn't subtle and a few months since we got eyes on the 919 Hybrid.

VW makes $23K on every Porsche sold, more than Bentley or Lamborghini

It's a good time to be in the luxury car business. In Volkswagen Group's financial report for the 2013 fiscal year, it is revealed that that Porsche enjoyed an operating margin of 18 percent. That means the Stuttgart brand made on average about $23,200 per car sold, according to BusinessWeek. Bentley wasn't far behind, and Audi (which was combined with Lamborghini) posted a 10.1 percent margin. This compares to only around 2.9 percent for the Volkswagen brand.
"Luxury brands are on fire," said Dave Sullivan, an industry analyst at AutoPacific. He said that the average profit margin is between six and eight percent. Brands like Porsche and Bentley have the benefit of competing in rarefied markets. Buyers looking at one their vehicles have fewer models to shop against and don't care as much about price. They can also charge more for options, which further boosts income, according to BusinessWeek.
In a way, we should be more impressed by the continued success from Audi. Its models generally have direct competitors in every segment from the other premium automakers. Plus, their buyers aren't the captains of industry who are shopping for a Bentley. Still, the Four Rings is leading rivals in sales so far this year.

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla Model X towing drag race, Porsche 918 salvage auction

Watch an Alfa Romeo 4C drag race against a Tesla Model X towing an Alfa Romeo 4C. The ridiculous (or, perhaps more appropriately, ludicrous) race appeared in MotorTrend's Instagram, which was then shared on Facebook by Tesla Motors Autopilot Program Director Sterling Anderson, along with the comment, "Fun fact: many high-performance cars cross the quarter mile line faster when towed by a Model X than they do on their own four wheels." While we can't quite see the actual results of the drag race in the video, it appears to be a close one. Check it out in the video above, and read more from Electrek. A Porsche 918 Spyder has gone up for auction. Unfortunately, it's a salvage auction, and said performance plug-in hybrid is totally mangled. The gut-wrenching photos reveal an even sadder detail, as the car's odometer shows it only logged 92 miles before being involved in what appears to have been a terrible wreck (though the listing describes the miles as "not actual"). The current bid on the Copart auction site is up to $106,000, and the listing shows a $600,000 repair estimate. The very expensive hunk of metal and carbon fiber is located in Long Island. Check out the listing for yourself, or read more at MotorAuthority. GKN Driveline says that German drivers are more interested in plug-in hybrids (especially with all-wheel drive) than conventional hybrid cars. In a poll of more than 1,000 drivers commissioned by GKN, 75 percent preferred PHEVs to standard hybrids, while 61.2 percent said that 50 kilometers (31 miles) of electric range is enough for their daily driving duties. About 81 percent are "wary of hybrids," most believing them to be a poor value. 52 percent said their ideal car would combine a plug and all-wheel drive. "We believe that plug-in hybrids with all-wheel drive make sense," says GKN Automotive President of Engineering Peter Moelgg, "and the public's positive response to vehicle programmes that offer this combination – like the Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine, BMW i8, and Porsche 918 Spyder – can only continue to grow." Read more in the press release below. NEW RESEARCH REVEALS GERMAN DRIVERS PREFER PLUG-IN HYBRIDS Lohmar, Germany, 22 March 2016: Drivers now consider plug-in hybrid vehicles to be more attractive and practical than conventional hybrids, a survey commissioned by GKN Driveline has revealed.