2009 Porsche C2s, Fabspeed Muffler, Extra Set Rims With Hoosier R6 Tires on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Porsche reveals new 911 Turbo Cabriolets, starting from $160,700*

Porsche has come a long way from the days when its entire model line revolved essentially around the 911, but its prototypical rear-engined sports car is still what it's known for best, and still keeps the German automaker pretty busy. With a seemingly endless array of variations on the theme, the 911s just keep on coming until a new generation arrives and then it starts all over again. And what we have here is the new king of the hill (for now, anyway).
Set to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show a little less than two months from now are the new Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolets. And no, that's not a typo: that's cabriolets, plural, because what you're looking at are two new models. First up is the 911 Turbo Cabriolet, whose 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six develops 520 horsepower, driving the droptop to 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds. That's Porsche's claim, and we have a feeling it's a bit conservative. But if that's still not enough, the 911 Turbo S Cabriolet adds an extra 40 hp for a total of 560 to drop the benchmark acceleration run down to 3.1 seconds.
That makes the new topless Turbos 30 horses stronger and 0.2 seconds quicker than the respective models they replace, but the weight penalty involved with replacing a fixed roof with a folding one (and the necessary structural reinforcement) does make the new 911 Turbo Cabs a smidgen more lethargic than their contemporary coupe counterparts, which run the gauntlet in 3.2 and 2.9 seconds in standard Turbo and upgraded Turbo S specs, respectively. They only lose a single tick on the top speed, though, which clocks in at a follicle-tickling 195 mph in either spec. Otherwise the specifications are as identical as you might expect.

Porsche's Mauer recalls the history of the 918 Spyder, hints about next-gen 911

The night before Porsche handed me the keys to its 2015 Macan to drive on both road and track, the company threw together a great dinner for the assembled media in Leipzig. Hosted in Porsche's spaceship-shaped customer delivery center in the eastern German town, I'll admit that I spent the bulk of my night grabbing hors d'oeuvres from passing waiters (they do a nice tuna sashimi), milling around a collection of historic and interesting vehicles on the top floor and gulping down Warsteiner.
In an era of mega car companies, the story of how the 918 came to be was really refreshing.
Before the evening was over, however, Porsche design chief Michael Mauer stopped by my table to exchange pleasantries and thank us all for coming out to drive the Macan. My fellow diners and I passed a pleasant half-hour or more picking the brain of the forthcoming Mauer, and somehow or another, the topic turned to Porsche's newest supercar, the 918 Spyder. In an era of mega car companies (the Volkswagen Group included) and massive development teams, the story of how the 918 came to be is really refreshing.

Porsche to only build next Panamera in Leipzig?

Manufacture of the next-generation Porsche Panamera could be moving, if a report from Reuters is true. The current-generation Panamera range has its bodies welded together and painted at a Volkswagen facility in Hanover before being shipped to Leipzig where final assembly takes place.
According to Reuters, Porsche is looking to cut VW out of the equation and focus production of the Panamera in Leipzig. While this could cost 800 of the 14,300 workers at Hanover their jobs, it's not entirely clear what Porsche stands to gain by the move. It recently invested 50- million euros (about $680 million at today's rates) on a paint and body shop for its Leipzig factory, ostensibly so the facility could have Macan production underway by that car's spring 2014 on-sale date. If the facility was also designed with next-generation Panamera production in mind, then Porsche's decision to put all of its eggs in one basket could make a lot of sense. It currently ships the semi-completed Panameras from Hanover to Leipzig, a distance of around 160 miles by road, and presumably it's a costly and time-consuming process.
The Leipzig factory produced 27,000 Panameras last year, although it's unclear just what its production capacity really is. Besides the Panamera and the upcoming Macan, the factory also builds the Porsche Cayenne.