Fact Check: No, These Porsche Patents Do Not Show A New Hypercar Successor To The 918 Spyder

A series of what initially appear to be intriguing new patent images of a wild hypercar from Porsche have been making the online rounds, but what’s the story here; is it really a new model or something else?

The claim

The patent images were first shared by Autovisie before being picked up and shared by a multitude of sites claiming that we could be looking at a production version for a successor to the 918 Spyder based around the gorgeous 917 Concept unveiled last year by the German brand with more dramatic aero additions.

Viewed from the front, the car sports massive haunches just like the 917 Concept as well as a set of LED headlights and aerodynamic add-ons on either side of the bumper. A number of other aspects of the design are particularly eye-catching, including the wraparound windshield and side windows that remind us of various Koenigsegg models.

The facts

Simply put, those claims are not true. For starters, what is not mentioned anywhere in those reports is that the patent application is clearly marked as “Vehicle Toys”, which could mean one or both of two things – Porsche is just making sure that no one gets any smart ideas of duplicating the design, and it has already, or is planning to in the near future, to release a scale toy model.

As far as the car in the patents looking slightly altered with additional aero-addenda and different five spoke wheels, that is absolutely true, but it’s not the first time Porsche has shown this specific variant of the 917 Living Legend. A quick search online reveals that the same exact vehicle with the aero addons and wheels was featured in Porsche’s official online and museum footage from early 2019, putting the next hypercar theory to rest.

Any chances we’ll see something similar in the future?

It is no secret that Porsche will develop a successor to the 918 Spyder. Could this be it? As we’ve explained above, the answer is no. However, it’s certainly possible and totally plausible that Porsche’s designers might borrow styling cues from the 1:1 scale clay model for a future model, be that for the aforementioned halo hypercar or perhaps even a special, but digitally only, Vision Gran Turismo concept.

*Additional reporting and background check by John Halas