Mystery Porsche prototype destroyed in fire near Stuttgart

According to the Porsche-lovers at flatsixes.com, an unknown Porsche prototype caught fire after being taken home by an employee earlier this week. It reportedly took 19 firefighters to extinguish the blaze, which occurred in a home garage in Ludwigsburg, Germany (a city located near Porsche's home in Stuttgart). Fortunately, the employee and his wife suffered only minor injuries, but we assume the prototype is a complete loss.

We've got to admit: When we heard about the prototype fire, our minds jumped to Porsche's 918 hybrid supercar (which packs a liquid-cooled battery along with its internal combustion engine) and the upcoming Panamera plug-in hybrid.

But a closer reading of Porsche's very limited statements regarding the blaze reveals no reference to hybrid tech; it could have been a pre-production Macan for all we know. Moreover, the automaker has stressed that the car's powertrain had nothing to do with the fire, instead hinting that the source of ignition was the testing equipment frequently carried onboard pre-production vehicles.

As an aside: You may be wondering what a Porsche employee was doing driving around in a pre-production potentially worth millions of dollars (especially since said employee was reportedly not a Porsche test driver). If the number of partially camouflaged cars and trucks we see in front of metropolitan Detroit homes crammed with strange electronics, scraggly wires and prominent, dash-mounted kill switches are any indication, however, this is standard operating procedure for the world's automakers.

We'll be sure to bring you any updates if and when Porsche makes an official statement.

By Graham Kozak