2001 Porsche 911 Turbo on 2040-cars

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Porsche 911 GT3 RS spec sheet leaked, promises 500 hp

Axis of Oversteer has three pages of what's purported to be the spec sheet for the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and it's got a few bolded items noting key differences with the already spectacular 911 GT3. Prime among them is its output, pegged at exactly 500 horsepower and 339 pound-feet of torque, which looks at first blush to be a minor bump: just 25 hp and 14 lb-ft over the GT3, and the redline drops 200 rpm to 8,800 rpm. If the document is accurate, though, there will be a hefty dose of weight loss to make the most of it. The bodyshell and doors are aluminum, carbon fiber reinforced plastic is used for those vented front fenders (the vanes are plastic), the front trunklid, the rear engine cover, and the rear wing, while the roof is made of magnesium and the side windows are polycarbonate. The bucket seats, door entry guards, and other interior trim pieces are also fashioned from CFRP, and it gets lightweight door panels with pull-loops. Elsewhere around the coupe, the body grows wider by 50 millimeters in front and 30 mm in back over a track that's 36 mm wider. There's a pit-lane speed limiter for track days, tinted taillights, an optional Clubsport package with a six-point seatbelt, and GT3 RS logos everywhere. It's looking more and more like this car was developed to define the word "epic." Featured Gallery Porsche 911 GT3 RS spec sheet Related Gallery 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS News Source: Axis of Oversteer Geneva Motor Show Porsche Coupe Performance 2015 Geneva Motor Show porsche 911 gt3

Porsche Macan sales may push brand past 200K unit goal early

In late 2010, Volkswagen announced that it would spend the equivalent of $71 billion through 2015 to beef up its product lineup, determined to overtake Toyota in overall sales and profitability by 2018. Each of VW's many brands, in turn, would play its part contributing to a goal of 10 million sales per year. VW-owned Porsche was expected to sell 200,000 vehicles per year by 2018, but with the imminent arrival of the Macan small sport utility vehicle in 2014, the automaker is poised to meet that goal years ahead of schedule, Automotive News reports.
Porsche sold 143,096 cars in 2012, and IHS Automotive predicts Porsche will sell 63,000 Macans in 2014, according to Automotive News, which would make it the brand's best-selling vehicle. Do the math and you can see how Porsche could easily beat original expectations ahead of schedule. But Porsche's sales and marketing boss Bernhard Maier says not so fast: "We will not offer [63,000 Macans] in 2014 as we will still be ramping up production and introducing models top down," he told Automotive News Europe. Whether Porsche surpasses the 200,000 mark early or not, he said, the company will not set a new sales target and will remain committed to its business model.
The Macan shares its architecture with the Audi Q5, but Porsche will be able to charge more for its SUV. Tim Urquhart, a senior analyst at IHS Autmotive, told Automotive News that Porsche can charge 10 to 20 percent more, for what is basically the same SUV, than other VW Group brands. How's that for brand value?

Porsche 911 and Citro"en DS lovechild would look like this

The early Porsche 911 and the Citroën DS were two cars produced in the same era (though the DS launched in 1955, nearly 10 years before the 911), but they were vastly different from each other. The 911 was a uniquely German, pure-bred sports car, while the French-built DS had four doors and focused more on ride quality than sporting intentions. That made it all the more surprising when we came across the 911DS, a creation that binds the rear half of the Citroën to the front of an early, longhood 911.
The folks at Brandpowder are behind the creation, which we surmise was an exercise in design rather than an actual, completed project (some of the images look Photoshopped), but it's compelling nonetheless, with a turbocharged flat-six providing 260 horsepower. We hope someone builds it - though we're sure if that happened the early 911 crowd would cry afoul at one of its increasingly rare and valuable Porsches being grafted onto an old French car.
But as Brandpowder points out lightheartedly, perhaps the creation could transcend popular car culture: "The 911DS represents the effort of two countries, a genuine attempt to join their energy and talent into one thing. We hope Germany and France will be inspired by Brandpowder's story, as a metaphor for a better and greater Europe."