The LaFerrari is out, we all love it. But is it the end of an era?

Finally, after a massively staggered release, all three of the top hypercars have been released to the hungry, privileged motoring journalists. If you're not quite in tune, those cars are the Porsche 918, the McLaren P1 and most recently, the Ferrari LaFerrari. Seriously, if you translate it, the car becomes 'The Ferrari The Ferrari'.

But enough poking at the names of the cars, because every single petrolhead has no other choice but to respect these cars, and for good reason. But the funny thing is, these cars are all hybrids. Yup, that McLaren is genetically closer related to a Prius than it is to a Lamborghini Aventador. And I am willing to bet that if these hybrid supercars were produced a decade ago, everyone would hate them and they'd become an instant monumental flop.


The reason I think why this laughing hasn't happened in glorious 2014 is quite simply down to the technological abilities that can be achieved these days. 2004 pretty much only had the Prius; a time where hybrids were aimed directly for economy. Nowadays, we have dozens of hybrid models from a range of companies.

People are naturally born to hate this car

But most crucially, a lot of these hybrids are not tuned for economy - they were made to get more power. The 'Big Three' hypercars have obviously followed this power aiding ethos, and the results are truly breathtaking.

All three of the cars have either huge V8's or V12's producing many horses. But they all have electric motors that 'torque-fill' the car when the engine is at lower revs. The result of this is instant time-warping acceleration from any point of the rev range.

Hot or Not? Your opinion is irrelevant, this car is a BEAST

But let's focus on the LaFerrari. With a V12 that screams to 9250rpm, it is surely the most drool worthy out of the three. While the other two have an electric-only mode (the Porsche will do over 100mpg theoretically), the Ferrari is all about the power and that torque filling. My only point is, how long will supercar manufacturers be able to create cars like this?

It's all well and good having a hybrid system, but the fact of the matter is that the Ferrari still won't see much over 20mpg. With our ever-tightening government policies, this may be the last car Ferrari can do without mentioning 'eco' in the revealing of their cars.

Thankfully, these weren't the last true greats

But let's not get bogged down. In an episode of Top Gear from 2004, Jeremy Clarkson stated that the Pagani Zonda, Porsche Carrera GT and the Ferrari Enzo were perhaps the best supercars can go, and nothing would be able to top them off. Oh, how wrong he was. Since then, supercars have been coming out by vast amounts. It probably suggests I'm talking a load of rubbish too.

Either way, I'll be looking out for the first Porsche advert that has a leaf in it.