Well, it was fun while it lasted. Patent images of a sleek Porsche hypercar emerged onto the Internet a couple of weeks ago to show what many believed at that point was an early look at the 918 Spyder successor. As it turns out, it’s not. Car and Driver found better versions of those images from the German Patent and Trademark Office and they too first had the impression it was a design to preview a new flagship Porsche.
The mid-engined, low-slung machine is actually something we’ve seen already. The patent images are depicting a slightly modified version of the 917 Living Legend, a concept unveiled by Porsche a little over a year ago to celebrate the race car’s 50th anniversary. We saw the connection between the two cars when the images surfaced online, but we were hoping these would be a window into the future of a 918 Spyder replacement.