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Porsche sells final 918 Spyder amidst excellent year of sales

2014 has been a banner year for Porsche, as the company has moved over 169,000 units through November, an increase of around 12,000 units over the same period in 2013. During last month alone, the company's sales saw a year-over-year jump of 25 percent. The European market, meanwhile, saw an 18-percent jump in sales, while its North American efforts have jumped 13 percent. "This strong November is evidence that our strategy is working extremely well," Porsche board member Bernhard Maier said in the accompanying statement. "It also confirms our commitment to taking advantage of every opportunity presented in the global markets." Those notable sales gains aside, this latest sales report comes with some bad news for the overwhelming majority of Porsche fans – the last 918 Spyder has been sold. All 297 cars have been spoken for, with US deliveries set to begin soon. According to Porsche, there are currently around 100 Spyder owners spread across Germany and China. Porsche exceeds previous year's sales by November Last unit of the 918 Spyder sold Atlanta. Porsche AG increased global deliveries to customers from January to November this year to more than 169,000 vehicles, already exceeding the overall total for 2013 of 162,145 new vehicles. This represented a growth of 15 percent over the same period last year (January to November 2013: 147,290 vehicles). In the month of November, Porsche delivered 17,700 vehicles – an increase of one quarter over the same month last year. "This strong November is evidence that our strategy is working extremely well," said Bernhard Maier, Member of the Executive Board – Sales and Marketing of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. "It also confirms our commitment to taking advantage of every opportunity presented in the global markets." In Europe, Porsche delivered 54,500 vehicles from January to November 2014 – an increase of 18 percent over the previous year, with the domestic German market accounting for 22,200 of the sales. The American region also showed a significant 13 percent increase over last year with a total of 51,600 deliveries. In addition, November announced the finality of sales for the 918 Spyder hybrid super sports car. With a limited run of 918 units, the majority of the cars – 297 – will be shipped from the Zuffenhausen manufactory to buyers in the USA. In both Germany and China there are already around 100 proud new owners who have taken delivery of the super sports car.

Wandering the Chopard Heritage Tent at Rennsport Reunion V

Porsche has a ton to celebrate at its Rennsport Reunion V being held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend. While some other luxury carmakers are hurting, Porsche sales are up. The 919 Hybrid won Le Mans in only its second year of competition, then came to America and won the World Endurance Championship race at Lone Star Le Mans in Austin, Texas the weekend before Rennsport Reunion. It just introduced its 2017 911 Carrera with a turbocharged engine for the first time ever for the line, and our initial impressions from the passenger's seat are that it's pretty good. And humor us while we have this out for the conspiracy theorists, but one can imagine some back-room celebrations since with Porsche Chairman Matthias Muller's promotion on Friday, September 26, Porsche completed its takeover of Volkswagen. Remember when that was a thing, when 16-year Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking tried to work the stock market to get control of VW but failed, so VW swallowed up Porsche instead? More concretely, around 50,000 people have come to the Reunion, and there are 1,400 Porsches parked in all the corrals. This year's event is devoted to Le Mans, with eight of the brand's 17 winners in attendance. We spent most of our time on the penultimate day in the Chopard Heritage Display, though, wandering through four rows of vintage machinery. The vehicles were even more instructive than they were beautiful - the Spyders, the RS editions, the Abarth-bodied racers, the company's first flat-eight race car, the 911 SCRS rally cars that led to the shows-topping 959, all help explain in metal what Porsche is referring to in its press releases and when it puts out special editions. They teach the history of personnel inside and outside of Porsche, too: like that Ferdinand Piech led the team that created the famous-on-sight 1968 917K at the same time as he was leading development of the Porsche 914; and that one of our own colleagues, the late Denise McCluggage, drove to victory in the 1957 Watkins Glen Grand Prix in a 1954 Porsche 550 Spyder 1500RS. There's a huge, captioned gallery above of just some of the wares parked in the Chopard Heritage Display. Have a look and a read, and the next time a Porsche rolls out a commemorative limited edition, one of these could be the car they're looking back at. Related Video:

Best sport sedans for 2022 and 2023

SUVs dominate the car industry at every size and price level, but some people still prefer the looks, and more importantly, the performance and comfort, of the traditional sedan. With a lower ride height, lighter weight and generally smaller size, they often are much more fun to drive, and can even be more comfortable. Sport sedans of course lean harder on the performance side of things, and are among the best options for sheer speed and fun, thanks to those inherent characteristics. We've rounded up the ones in the segment that do the sporty dance better than any others in 2024 to give you a handy guide when you're shopping for one of your own. You'll find a wide array of cars here including gas, electric and hybrid powertrains. They'll have manual and automatic transmissions and drive the front, rear or all four wheels. Technically a few hatchbacks have slipped in, but they're close enough in look and feel that we wanted to include them. And excluding them means you might miss out on some of the best-driving options available. You wouldn't want that, would you? Alfa Romeo Giulia Why it stands out: Punchy four-cylinder; astounding power from Quadrifoglio; light and nimble character; awesome shift paddlesCould be better: Clunky infotainment; sub-par switchgear Read our Alfa Romeo Giulia review We start this list with one of the most predictable inclusions: the Alfa Romeo Giulia. Yes, it's a stereotype that the Italian sport sedan is fun to drive, but the fact is, well, it is. The Giulia comes standard with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 280 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful four-cylinders in the segment. It's paired with a snappy and smooth eight-speed transmission and either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.  The engine is lively and torquey, if a little short of revs, and the chassis feels super-light. The steering is eager and the car jumps into corners. We also highly recommend getting a version with the enormous and superb aluminum paddle shifters that make clicking through gears much more entertaining. And on the topic of the interior, it's attractive, but the various switches and knobs feels a little cheap, and the infotainment system is clunky. Of course there's also the incredible Giulia Quadrifoglio at the high end. It gets a Ferrari-derived twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 making 505 hp, and it's rear-wheel drive only.