For more than one century, electrical machines have been utilized for electrical drives. Nowadays, in most applications the electrical machine is fed by an inverter. Three types of machines are available for such purposes: the asynchronous induction machine, the permanent magnet excited synchronous machine and the synchronous reluctance machine. Reluctance machines represent an alternative to the other types when utilized in high-performance drives with a wide speed range. Due to the rotor saliency, these machines have an inherent suitability for a position-sensorless control. The parameters of a 5 kW machine with a maximum speed of 8000 rpm are evaluated by means of nonlinear finite element analyses. With regard to an application in a high-performance drive with a wide field-weakening range and a position-sensorless control scheme, the characteristics are calculated for the conventional reluctance machine as well as the reluctance machine with additional permanent magnets in the rotor. The comparison of the characteristics of the conventional reluctance machine and the permanent magnet assisted reluctance machine clearly shows the improved performance in terms of electromagnetic torque and power factor due to the interior permanent magnets. Thereby, the suitability for the application in position-sensorless drives due to the high effective saliency is preserved.