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  Porsche chief Michael Macht believes the new Spyder points the way of future sports cars. Photo Gallery

The star of the show in Geneva this week is a radical new Porsche.

It's the 918 Spyder - a supercar with a very big difference. This one is a plug-in hybrid that Porsche believes will set a new direction for high-performance cars, blasting ahead of the Ferrari F599 hybrid which is also at the show and Audi's range of upcoming E-Tron battery sports cars.

The 918 is a mid-engined, open-topped speed machine that is Porsche's first serious top-end supercar since the $1 million-plus 911 Carrera GT1 from the late 1980s. It has a top speed of more than 320km/h and won as a prototype at the Le Mans 24 hours race. The 918 is the third hybrid coming to the Porsche stable - after the Cayenne and Panamera - and company chief Michael Macht predicts more to follow.

Macht says the 918 Spyder in Geneva is a concept car but the body is ready for production and the hybrid drivetrain is almost ready to go. "Porsche has never before shown a concept car that wasn't built. The Spyder points the way of future sports cars," Macht says. However, he says Porsche will wait for consumer reaction - and there are deposit-ready customers in Geneva - before making a commitment to production.

But, provided the 918 does clear the final hurdle there is a good chance the car will make it to Australia. "The drivetrain is extremely realistic. It is a serious answer to reducing emissions and fuel economy, even for Porsche," says Paul Ellis of Porsche Cars Australia. The open two-seater is powered by a high-revving V8 developing more than 370kW - already used in the RS Spyder racer - boosted by electric motors on the front and rear axle with overall output of 160kW.

So the Porsche hybrid hero hits 100km/h in under 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 320km/h but, even more importantly, it emits just 70g of CO2 emissions per kilometre and delivers fuel economy of just 3.0l/100km. In simulations the car produces a lap time at the Nurburgring of less than 7 minutes 30 seconds, faster than even the Carrera GT and the Nissan GT-R.

The 918 has a mid-ships engine location ahead of the rear axle line, with power fed to a seven-speed Porsche gearbox that also feeds electric power to the rear axle. Macht says the big advantage of a plug-in hybrid is that the battery can be charged up from the home. In this case, that means a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery positioned behind the cabin.

The car’s kinetic energy is also converted into electrical energy fed into the battery when applying the brakes. A button on the steering wheel allows the driver to choose among four different running modes, including a pure electric mode that enables the car to travel 25km.

A Sport Hybrid mode uses both the petrol engine and hybrid drive systems, but with the focus on performance. Most of the drive power goes to the rear wheels, with torque vectoring split drive to each individual wheel.

Like the drivetrain, the Spyder uses a lightweight body structure that bears out the car’s motorsport DNA. The modular structure has a monocoque bodyshell made of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic with magnesium and aluminium helping reduce weight to less than 1490kg.