A total of 918 Porsche 918 Spyder supercars will ever be made, but now, there are 917 as one went up in flames in Canada on Sunday. Witnesses say that a fuel spill hit the hot exhaust of the car and it went up in flames. Luckily, no one seemed to have been injured in the gas station eruption, but the Porsche 918 Spyder is completely totaled.
The incident happened, says Global News , north of Toronto near Hurontario Street and King Street in Caledon. Video by a passerby captured the car engulfed in flames.
For those wondering, this rare and much sought-after supercar has a starting price of $845,000. On the short list of known buyers is Toronto Bay Street investor Michael Wekerle, known for starring in the CBC Dragons’ Den show. It’s wasn’t immediately clear whether this is Wekerle’s car, but given the locale and the small number of the Porsche 918 Spyder cars built, that seems the likely source of ownership here. This is confirmed by Caledon Enterprise .
Wekerle then confirmed to CBC that it was his Porsche 918 Spyder and the location was the Esso gas station in Caledon. In a short interview, he confirmed that the car is totaled and that he’d paid $900,000 USD for the 918 Spyder and has only owned it since September 3. It was one of the first two to be imported into Canada, he lamented.
Photos of the after-effects of the burn were posted to Twitter by several passers by.
918 Spyder on fire at Caledon Esso Gas Station @CityNews #CityNews @CP24 14010 Hurontario St., Caledon pic.twitter.com/sc69kaOSP8
— Jason Low (@Jasonsgca) September 29, 2014
Just saw my dream car exploded and I’ve never been so heart broken pic.twitter.com/Ffkv7ZrJZk — david perry (@davidandperry) September 29, 2014
Car enthusiasts and fans of the Posrche 918 Spyder were lamenting the loss. Car News Cafe shed tears over the loss of the rare Porsche and refused to post video or photos of the flame-engulfed 918 Spyder, instead posting only a photo of the car “in its prime, before it’s short life ended.”
For those who are not familiar with the Porsche 918 Spyder, it is a plug-in hybrid supercar which combines a 4.6-liter V8 engine with two electric motors for a total output of 887 horsepower. Despite it’s 0-60 miles per hour times of well under 3 seconds and top speed of 214 mph, the Prosche 918 Spyder is a hybrid which rated a 22 miles per gallon combined fuel consumption by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
