Strangely enough, this design study dates back to 2014, but it was never shown to the public then. It's not exactly normal for a car company to wait this long to show a concept, but we sure are glad Porsche is finally doing it. Go ahead and take in the gorgeous photographs, but there's arguably something even more exciting at stake here: Porsche's next hypercar.

A recent report from Autocar contains a few quotes from Porsche design boss Michael Mauer that gets our imagination running.

"If you launch a new hypercar ,then you can go extremely modern in your thinking or maybe just go back to our sports carroots and take inspiration from some of the many icons in our history. When you look at the 917 Concept then, personally, I love it. You look at it, and you immediately make the connections," Mauer said.

He continues, "But as a designer who believes that the next hypercar should point to the future, I'm not so sure. There is always the option to look into history, but sometimes you can also take the option to create some history."

The takeaway here is that Porsche is still unsure of what direction it wants to take with its 918 successor. And there certainly will be a successor, according to Porsche CEO Oliver Blume. He says Porsche is working on it now, but still doesn't have a decision on what type of powertrain to use. A fully-electric or hybrid car appear to be the possibilities laid out on the table now. One thing's for sure, we certainly don't have any qualms with this concept as a jumping-off point for design inspiration.

Not long after the Porsche 918 Spyder went out of production in 2015, the automaker began internal debate about what kind of powertrain it would use in the follow-up. Four years later, the debate is ongoing. In 2017, Porsche voiced its desire to move its hypercar game on with a battery-electric powertrain, beyond the hybrid 918. The problem — echoed by McLaren— was that battery technology wouldn't make such a BEV possible until at least the middle of the 2020s. In 2019, the same issues remain, with solid-state battery tech not progressing as quickly as hoped. Autocar reports that Porsche could switch to Plan B in the meantime, that being an as-yet-unused 1.6-liter V6 hybrid engine Porsche Motorsport developed in order to return to Formula One as an engine supplier.

Porsche has been mentioned as a potential new F1 entrant for years, but uncertainty at the Volkswagen Group and in the F1 rulebook compelled the German sports car maker to walk away from the opportunity, opting for Formula E instead. However, after leaving LMP1, 40 Porsche engineers from the Le Mans effort began working on a six-cylinder version of the 2.0-liter four-cylinder hybrid from the 919 Hybrid. That work turned into the creation of a 1.6-liter V6 hybrid along the lines of an F1 engine but without "the complex and expensive" MGU-H unit that converts exhaust heat into electrical energy. Motorsport chief Fritz Enzinger says that engine is still in development, having got as far as running on a test bench for "analysis with regard to series production relevance."

There's no info on the hybrid component yet, but Stefan Weckbach, who oversees Porsche's EV projects, said the company could turn to its partnership with Rimac for that aspect.

Even though Porsche has a motor ready, the board hasn't decided on whether to go electric or hybrid, and sports car boss Frank-Steffen Walliser says he doesn't care what kind of powertrain goes into the car as long as it can tick off a 6:30 lap time at the Nürburgring. So according to Autocar, what kind of bodywork might surround this powertain "remains at conceptual stage, with an introduction unlikely before 2023 at the earliest." We don't think the 917 Concept from 2014would be a bad place to start. If Porsche goes with the 1.6-liter hybrid, though, the market would get a clearer competitor to the Mercedes-AMG One, and the platform could provide entries to the ACO's new so-called Hypercar class in the World Endurance Championship and to IMSA's Daytona Prototype class.