The Porsche Museum is currently hosting an exhibition that celebrates sixty years of Porsche clubs. The manufacturer has just announced that it will make thirteen special edition 911 Coupes: twelve will be sold to clubsters who win the right to buy in a raffle, and one will remain in Stuttgart.
The first Porsche Club was started in Germany in 1952. Porsche clubs now have more than 181,000 members worldwide. This is officially recognised Porsche Clubs, so doesn’t include people like me and many others reading this.
If one included non-club Internet forum members, and fans of the brand regularly interacting with other Porsche owners, on- or off-line, the number would be a lot higher. Remember Porsche has 4 million Facebook fans.
The Porsche Museum is showing twelve special cars as club anniversary exhibits, including Dr. Wolfgang Porsche’s personal 993 Turbo S (top) and the neat Type 957 Jagdwagen (above).
Stuttgart is “using the anniversary as an opportunity to thank club members for their steadfast loyalty over the decades and their deep commitment” by building twelve special edition Club Coupes. Based on special-order Brewster Green Carrera S models, the cars feature a Powerkit upgrade to 430 hp, the SportDesign package and colour coded wheels. They come with bespoke lettering, and illuminated door entry guards with the anniversary logo.
Each coupe will retail at €142,800 in Germany, plus 19% tax. Or $175,580 in the USA, also plus tax. The standard Carrera S costs €102,000 in Germany, but that is including tax. Sorry, I should have sat you down before that.
Prospective buyers have until July 16th to register interest on the Porsche website, before a draw is held to decide the twelve winners. You can be from anywhere except China or India. I have no idea why this is – someone enlighten me.
A dozen €143,000-plus-tax Carrera S coupes awarded in a lottery is not Cult of Porsche. But, if you’ve got the cash and this is your thing, good luck to you. The lighting is very nice in the promo pics.
Porsche announces completion of the 918 Spyder prototypes. Dressed in camouflage reminiscent of the 917, development focus now turns to the relationship between the sophisticated driveline components.
918 runs a combustion engine and two electric motors – one feeding each axle – but has been designed as a plug-in hybrid. Though the supercar will contain 770 horsepower, its fuel consumption should be respectable at an expected three litres per 100 kilometres. That’s three litres per 62 miles, or .66 imperial gallons per 62 miles. 62 miles on .66 imperial gallons works out to 93 mpg on my calculator, so I might have this wrong!
“What we are doing with the 918 Spyder is redefining driving fun, efficiency and performance,” said Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Executive Board Research and Development of Porsche AG. “We have put all of our expertise and capacity for innovation into this vehicle.
“The operating strategies and the development of the software to go with them are one of Porsche’s core competences. Both have a major influence on the extreme driving fun to be had with the 918 Spyder, allowing a unique combination of minimal fuel consumption and maximum performance. The initial results of the driving trials are in line with the high expectations placed on the 918 Spyder.”
Porsche is also implementing a full carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) monocoque, fully adaptive aerodynamics, adaptive rear-axle steering and the upward-venting “top pipes” exhaust system. The hybrid hypercar is the perfect response to those who claim Porsche is now all about selling SUVs to China. Gotta love the corporate finger.
Porsche has announced that it will take over the test facility at Nardò in southern Italy from next month. Take over means buy: Porsche Cars GB confirmed to me that that the company has bought the facility.
Nardò has been at the heart of European auto testing programmes for many years, and it sounds like that will continue. This will be a relief to the travelling technicians from many marques who like testing prototype cars and vans in the Italian sun! Some good Porsche friends among them.
The Proving Ground is famous for its 12.5-kilometre high-speed bowl, site of many Porsche speed tests over the years. One of the most impressive was the 200 mph run by the TechArt Cayenne Turbo in 2010. Equipped with 680 horsepower and a TechArt aerodynamic kit, the Cayenne was probably doing a true speed of closer to 215 mph, losing some of it through tyre scrub on the banking.
Nardò’s banking is designed so that there is no lateral force up to 240 km/h, almost 150 mph. Running at this speed in the outside lane of four, the steering wheel does not need to be turned. Interestingly, this is as fast as tests are allowed to be run unless the facility has been booked for exclusive use.
The stable climate at the facility, which is situated slightly inland from Italy’s southeast Mediterranean coastline, means the site can be used all year ’round. When Porsche takes over next month, the priority will be to update some of the facilities before opening the place for proper Porsche business, and making it available to other manufacturers. I look forward to visiting the place myself one day.
The new Porsche 911 has been named World Performance Car 2012, with Volkswagen’s Up winning the overall World Car of the Year award.
An international jury panel of 64 automotive journalists from 25 countries votes on the awards: seven of whom are in the USA, where the Volkswagen Up is not sold.
Chosen from an entry list of nineteen vehicles, the 911 made it through a number of knock out rounds before being crowned the winner, beatoing the Aventador and McLaren MP4-12C to the crown.
There’s a particular serendipity to the 911’s win, given the loss of its devoted father yesterday. Butzi would be very proud of the team now maintaining his vision: well done to all.
The team at Porsche have put an interesting video together with Museum Director, Achim Stejskal, talking about the new Boxster at the Geneva unveiling. I always enjoy Achim’s easy way of pulling different ideas and elements together: no wonder he does what he does for Porsche, and was so good in the same job at Mercedes.
Achim presents the new Boxster as the latest in the genesis of Porsche roadsters that started with the 356. “The original Boxster concept was presented at the Detroit Motor Show in 1993 and became the car of the show. Three years later, the (production) Boxster was launched and now this third generation of Boxster is more attractive than ever.” This is true.
Achim then links Geneva Motor Show to his “living room of the Porsche brand” by way of DNA. “New Boxster is not just a new model line. This is also the climax of our almost 60-year history of Porsche sports cars. All the DNA starting with the very first Porsche 356 and 550 is combined in this new Boxster.
“All these cars – 356, 550 or 718 Spyder – have the same philosophy. This (Boxster) is a mid-engine concept in a lightweight body, so a very agile car. It all combines to make a great thing called the fun of driving. This is what Porsche presents and it is working very well: it is almost overwhelming. This car is a pure roadster and it’s a perfect car, in my opinion.”
Much has changed since the Detroit launch in 1993. That new Boxster was launched in Geneva says it all: Europe is now the heart of the motor industry and the epicentre of brand determination. How Europe buys its cars is how most manufacturers now build and price their cars.
As Harris says in his Drive video, new Boxster is quite a different car to the old one. It looks better, goes better and feels of an all-round higher quality. And Porsche will happily charge for the experience: a generous Boxster S is £65K now.
The excellence of new Boxster may be the best indication yet of how new Porsche has repositioned itself higher up the VW food chain: back to its primo price, primo reward self. As this is the self that spawned the 718 RSK, the ’73 RS and all of our favourite hewn-from-granite classics, new Boxster could be the best news yet for fans of old Porsche. I mean proper old Porsche.
No doubt you’ve all seen plenty of cut-and-paste Porsche press releases on various websites about the 991. The new 911 is currently being driven by journalists and is bound to be well received. Pic tweeted by Chas Hallett from the Porsche museum media launch:
My main interest is the seven-speed manual transmission. Being a child of the four speed era, I struggle with six speeds, so seven should be suitably hilarious. Another Chas pic: no, he’s not a photographer, he’s the big boss editor of What Car.
New Porsche 911 991 Launched
Manufacturers fit multi-speed transmissions to lower emissions. The better matched each gear is to road speed, the less fuel you burn. Combine that with the stop-start technology fitted to the 991, and you get the lowest emissions yet seen on a Porsche sports car: 194 g/km. Panamera Hybrid makes 159 g/km, so the Porsche 911 emissions still have a way to go, but it’s reasonable progress.
194 g/km is the same as the Lexus IS 250 and the Saab 93 2.0T. From a 3.4-litre 911. That’s lower than a BMW 335 and is easily lower than my ancient 911 or any of my other cars: factory numbers for both the ’02 Subaru Legacy Outback and my ’96 E36 M3 are both knocking on the door of 230 g/km. Legacy a little lower as I run it on LPG. Landcruiser is diesel, so a different kettle of fish, but God only knows what an early ’90s 4.2-litre turbo diesel manual throws out.
Fuel economy is unlikely to be a focal point in new 911 road tests, but it fascinates me. I managed almost 38 mpg from the Carrera 4S I took to Essen in May of this year, so if the new Carrera can top 40 mpg in sensible use, that’ll be quite a thing. Perhaps I could have seen 40 in a C2 to Essen: I’m sure colleagues have reported mid-40s on C2 economy drives in the past. Who knows – maybe I could wring the new one out to 50.
Fantasy land and not the point of the car I agree, but efficiency brings benefits across the platform. Lighter weight with lower emissions mean you can carry less fuel to go the same distance. Less energy is wasted controlling more mass through tyres and suspension, which makes the car more dynamic. No future 911 will ever leap back to the 1100-kilogram air-cooled benchmark, but the 45 kilos saved by the aluminium body versus the old one will make a difference to how it performs, and how much energy it needs to make you feel alive.
Here’s some nice 911 video in German. I like German videos: no understandable marketing speak.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
