2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo Sport Utility 4-door 4.8l on 2040-cars

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Porsche (finally) unleashes full, official details on 918 Spyder

Porsche has finally let released all of the details on the 918 Spyder, the German brand's challenger to the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, after months of leading our poor, performance-loving hearts on. The covers were lifted at the Volkswagen Group night, an enormous precursor to the Frankfurt Motor Show, and include a massive, 11,000-word press release that's attached at the bottom of this page.
The 918 Spyder features a mid-mounted, dry-sump-lubricated, 4.6-liter V8 engine that generates 608 horsepower when left to its own devices. Combined with a trio of electric motors, which produce 286 hp, the total system horsepower for the 918 Spyder rests at 887 ponies. That's less than the McLaren P1 (903 hp) and the LaFerrari (949 hp), but the Porsche is also likely to be a bit cheaper, starting at $845,000, while the McLaren will be in the seven-figure range for certain, and it will more than likely be joined by the LaFezza.
The 918 Spyder counters with a 2.8-second jog to 62, a 7.7-second run to 124 and it will hit 186 in 22 seconds.

Porsche suspends 911 GT3 deliveries amidst fears of spontaneous combustion

Seeing pictures of Italian supercars burst into flames by the side of the road, as our compatriots at Axis of Oversteer point out, has become something of a usual sight. But a Porsche? Surely those meticulous German engineers have got that taken care of, right?
Not necessarily. Reports coming in from Europe indicate that no fewer than five 911 GT3 coupes have "spontaneously combusted" in the past few weeks, prompting Porsche to launch an investigation. In the meantime, they've reportedly ceased deliveries of the new GT3 while they try to determine what the problem is and work to rectify it.
We wouldn't be surprised to see a recall issued once the problem is resolved, but for now, we'd encourage existing owners to be extra vigilant behind the wheel - or better yet, leave their cars in the garage for the time being. You wouldn't want to drive a 475-horsepower rear-drive sports car through a Polar Vortex, anyway, right?

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.