Porsche brought its 918 Spyder supercar to America last night, showing off the amazing car under the glare of bright lights in a hanger at the airport in Monterey, Calif. Today, the 918 is going to run up and down roads around here just to show off its performance, and an amazing throaty purr from its V-8 engine with those side-pipe exhaust tips.

About 1,000 of the 2,000 serious potential customers who arose after it was shown at the Geneva auto show earlier this year were from the U.S., enough that Porsche gave the car a go-ahead for production, said Detlev von Platen, CEO of Porsche Cars North America in an interview with Drive On. Still no price or arrival date yet, however.

The 918 is special because of the remarkable performance it gets by combining V-8 performance with a battery and electric motors. As a plug-in, it's capable of miles of electric powered travel. With the V-8 and electric motor, it accelerates like a rocket.