1975 Porsche 911 Carrera on 2040-cars

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DP Motorsport tries to turn a vintage Porsche 911 into a sleeper

Once you get past the fact that it's hard to call a car a sleeper when it has race-product stickers on its quarter panel, and the script across the back panel reads "Porsche 911 3.2 Sleeper," it's fun to imagine what this car can do. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 911, Germany's DP Motorsport took a model from 1986, stripped it of everything - including the paint and undercoating - then replaced everything with lightweight and race-ready parts.
In went race cams and ported cylinder heads, a lightweight flywheel, an RSR titanium racing exhaust, 935-style lollipop seats and RSR carpeting, a lightweight battery, perforated and galvanized hinges and brackets, hardened perspex windows. The 3.2-liter engine puts out 270 horsepower - 70 hp above the stock 911 on sale here in 1986 - and 226 pound-feet of torque through a limited slip differential to staggered wheels. The exterior color is metallic rock-green lacquer.
If you want one, $120,00 is where the part starts, but DP Motorsport says it offers the parts individually if you don't need your vintage Porsche to sleep this hard. On a side note, for a chucklesome journey back in time, check out this review of the 1986 911 that gets things going with this line: "First off, the Porsche 911 is very expensive - how does about 40 thou grab you?" Back on topic, there's a press release below that tells the rest of the story of the 3.2 Sleeper.

$76,400 Porsche S E-Hybrid will debut in Paris

The 2015 Porsche Cayenne S E Hybrid will be an all-new model, one that adds a plug – and the required associated technological bits – to the currently available Cayenne S Hybrid. The most important of those bits is a 10.8-kWh lithium-ion battery, but Porsche's Calvin Kim told AutoblogGreen that the SUV's electric-only range is still pending certification, but Hybrid Cars says that Porsche is estimating it'll be somewhere between 11 and 22 miles, "depending on the style of driving and route topography." Other than the new battery, the electric motor has been upgraded to a 95 horsepower/70 kW unit (up from the 47-hp/34 kW motor in the Cayenne hybrid without a plug). The overall powertrain now puts out a total of 416 hp and can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.4 seconds. Alongside the electric parts, there's a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 engine and an 8-speed automatic transmission. You can find all of the E-Hybrid's available specs here and stay tuned for more information on the new plug-in SUV when it makes its debut at the Paris Motor Show in early October. The SUV will go on sale in the US on November 1, 2014 with a starting MSRP of $76,400, plus a destination charge of $995. In a new press release (available below), Porsche is also proudly saying, once again, that it will be the world's only automaker offering three plug-in hybrid models, once the Cayenne S E-Hybrid hits the market. The others are the Panamera S E-Hybrid and the 918 Spyder. How long will this reign at the top last? World premiere of the Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid in Paris Leading the industry: Porsche offers three plug-in hybrid models Stuttgart/Atlanta. The new Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid celebrates its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show. It is the world's first luxury SUV to offer a plug-in hybrid drive, setting new standards in its segment. The Cayenne S E-Hybrid also makes Porsche the leading manufacturer of plug-in hybrid vehicles: Complementing the Panamera S E-Hybrid and the 918 Spyder, Porsche is the only manufacturer worldwide to offer three plug-in hybrids. In addition to the Cayenne S E-Hybrid, Porsche is presenting the other models that comprise the new generation of Cayenne including the Cayenne S, Cayenne Turbo, and Cayenne Diesel. Increased efficiency and performance, even more precise handling, a sharper design and a broadened array of standard equipment are its defining features.

Automakers paying Chinese dealers for lower-than-expected sales

The Chinese dealers vs. foreign manufacturers story won't quit. It began with a story on the struggles faced by FAW-Toyota joint venture dealers, with supposedly 95 percent of the showrooms losing money, and 10 percent of them doing so poorly that they'd have to exit the business. The problem is mandated sales targets, most set when the country's economy was racing. Now that things have slowed, China's dealers are swimming in unsold cars and the costs to keep them. In the case of FAW-Toyota, dealers asked Toyota to hand over 2.2 billion yuan ($355 million) to help address the situation. That was followed by a report noting the issues that Honda, BMW, and Nissan dealers are having with the same issue, revealing that the Chinese Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) had taken the highly unusual step of writing to the Chinese government to complain. Now Reuters reports that CADA is not only pressing its case even harder, it's being open about it: it announced that BMW agreed to pay dealers 5.1 billion yuan ($820 million) to alleviate poor profits last year. Unnamed sources said Audi has thrown 2 billion yuan into the kitty for subsidies, and Daimler has contributed "about 1 billion yuan" to its dealers. The battle isn't just about 2014, but how business will be run in 2015 as well: Chinese Porsche dealers have requested the automaker lower its 2015 target of 64,000 cars, which would be a 40-percent increase on its 2014 sales of 46,931 vehicles. One analyst called it "shocking" that the CADA has taken its fight public, while CADA comments continue to imply that dealers have been railroaded to the cliff's edge without recourse. "Due to the difference in status," it's deputy secretary said, "individual dealers are not willing to, or don't dare to, talk frankly with the carmakers...." Both parties need one another, so they'll figure out a way to make it work – but that could mean acknowledging the Chinese market is behaving more like a mature one, not an emerging one. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Earnings/Financials Audi BMW Porsche Toyota Car Dealers Luxury