1997 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Convertible 2-door on 2040-cars

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Porsche Cayman GT4 spotted at the N?rburgring

It was just the other day that we first caught wind of Porsche's plans to build a GT4 version of the Cayman, and now we're already looking at spy shots of the vehicle in question undergoing testing at - where else? - the Nürburgring.
With more aggressive front-end aero, a GT3-style air vent ahead of the front hood, a large wing at the back, and spindly alloys packed with over-sized brakes at each corner, this Cayman is clearly more extreme than even the range-topping GTS. The rear diffuser and central exhaust tips look about the same as those you'd find at the back of the Cayman GTS, though.
What we can't see, of course, is what Porsche has slotted in under the rear glass, how it's upgraded the interior and how much weight it's stripped out of the thing to get it down to fighting weight, but you can bet it'll come with a substantial power bump and a stripped-out interior with racing buckets and little else to open the gap between it and the GTS... and close the gap to the 911 GT3 which it will join as the baby brother in Porsche's performance-focused lineup. Click above to view the double-batch of spy shots.

Porsche working on turbo V12 for Putin limo project?

Porsche is best known for building very well-regarded sports cars and better-selling utility vehicles. Come to the company with a big enough bag of cash, though, and the Porsche Engineering division can create just about anything. The group's past projects include working with Harley-Davidson, Mercedes-Benz and corporate cousin Audi, but if rumors prove true, then its latest partner might be the last one you'd expect.
Russian website Wroom reports that Porsche Engineering is building the engine for the Project Cortege government limousine project for Russian president Vladimir Putin. The mill is supposedly a turbocharged V12 displacing between 6.0- and 6.6-liters and making around 800 horsepower. When complete, it will reportedly be built by ZMZ with Russian-sourced parts.
The limo is expected to debut in 2017, according to Wroom, but it's just the beginning of Putin's grandiose plans, which also goes by the name of the Motorcade Project. The same platform is also meant to underpin several vehicles for use by the government, including an SUV, a small bus and a sedan. All of them would reportedly have a longitudinally mounted engine and all-wheel drive.

The mid-engine Porsche backstory

As an automaker's identity evolves over years, its signature becomes defined by any number of factors - heritage (Mercedes-Benz), image (Lamborghini), or market share (Toyota). In the case of Porsche, it was an engineering quirk that forged the German company's most enduring character trait.
Porsche would not have survived - let alone, thrived - in today's saturated landscape had it not been for the 911, and that slope-tailed sports car wouldn't have sprung to life without its predecessor, the 356. While phenomenal success of those rear-engine icons built the company, forays into the mid-engine configuration have played a significant part in establishing the brand's identity.
The Mid-Engine Prototype Of Ferry Porsche's Dreams