Porsche’s follow-up to the 918 Spyder is still years away from seeing sunlight, but like Ferrari, the German automaker doesn’t appear to have any problems talking about it. Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger provided the quotes this time when he spoke to Car and Driver about the company’s plans for the 918 successor, including the possibility of the car not being fully electric.

While everything is still in the speculative stage, it is interesting to hear Preuninger throw out the scenario given that the 918 Spyder relied on a hybrid powertrain to get to the power levels it needed to attain. But Preuninger stopped well short of confirming either a similar hybrid powertrain configuration or an all-out electric car for the talked-about successor. At this point, the Porsche GT boss also cautioned against making any bold statements since the company has no new hypercars in development at the moment. In other words, it’s going to sit on the sidelines just like Ferrari and watch as Aston Martin, Mercedes-AMG, and McLaren get busy in the development of their own hypercars. That doesn’t mean Porsche isn’t going to go back to the drawing board soon, because as Preuninger said, “Porsche needs to be the leader of any movement.” How much time do you give the company before that itch starts coming back?

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Hard to squeeze information if there’s nothing to squeeze

Every time the words “Porsche” and “hypercar” are mentioned in the same sentence, it’s automatic that it’ll be in the headlines. That’s a big part of being a “leader in a movement.” Now Andreas Preuninger wasn’t going to be baited into saying a hot take and that’s smart of him to resist going down that road. Any kind of revealing information is going to be prodded and flipped over and it’s ultimately going to be annoying for Porsche since there’s really nothing to prod over at the moment.

The good news is that Porsche isn’t closing the door on building and developing a successor to the Porsche 918 Spyder. Considering how much success the 918 has had, there’s no going around the reality that people will expect Porsche to come out with a better version down the road. It certainly adds more incentive to do it now that the company is seeing the likes of Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG take the hypercar race to a new level after Porsche, Ferrari, and McLaren laid the groundwork for the segment.

Ultimately, it’s going to be all about satisfying that competitive juice and Porsche has made it clear time and again that it’s as competitive as any automaker is in the world right now. It may be sitting on the sidelines now with Ferrari, but you can be sure that it’s going to have its eyes and ears ready, observing what Aston Martin, Mercedes-AMG, and McLaren have up their sleeves.

And let’s not forget, other companies like Audi and BMW are talking about building their own hypercars too. There’s no timetable for either of the two German rivals, but if their own plans push through, you can be sure that Porsche is going to be itching to get back to reclaim its rightful place in that segment. At that point, we won’t have to worry about speculating on what kind of powertrain it’s going to have. Porsche will let everyone know about it because it’s going to call its own shots.

A look back into the history of Porsche supercars

1. Porsche 918 Spyder

Read our full review on the Porsche 918 Spyder here.

2. Porsche Carrera GT

Read our full review on the Porsche Carrera GT here.

3. Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion

Read our full review on the Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion here.

4. Porsche 959 S

Read our full review on the Porsche 959 S here.