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Porsche 918 Spyder to birth stretched 2+2 version?

Porsche is known for its ability to spin off a litter of variants from a single model, and according to a report in Automobile the 918 Spyder (pictured here) might not be spared the house trick. Having taken too many brains and too much money for too much time, company chiefs are said to be examining ways to get more for their development euro out of the supercar, and Plan A is apparently otherwise known as Plan 984. That would be a four-seater, rear-wheel drive supercar that uses a stretched mold of the 918's carbon fiber tub, keeping the V8 in the same mid-mounted place and costing around 350,000 euro.
That would be less than half the MSRP of its inspiration, but the details don't sketch out a car that's just half as good. Automobile speculates it would get something like 700 horsepower in order to best the coming 911 GT2, and about 440 pound-feet of torque. The 984 is quite a ways short of being confirmed; even though a full-size study is said to exist, it's like the 918 would need to become a bigger sales hit for the 984 to happen.
The 984's fortunes don't change those of the 960, the supercoupe Porsche is building to challenge Ferrari. Its potential specs haven't changed since the last report in January, power coming from a 5.0-liter, twin-turbo, eight-cylinder boxer engine with something like 650 hp pushing a curb weight of roughly 3,100 pounds. The means a suspected 0-to-60 mile-per-hour time of 2.5 seconds.

Studiotorino shows new Cayman-based Moncenisio sports car

While the recent bankruptcy of Bertone shows that it has become very difficult to be a coachbuilder today, it seems there is still a business case in creating unique bodies for premium vehicles. Case in point, Studiotorino a small, Italian coachbuilder that has been creating limited-edition cars since 2005. Its latest creation is the Moncenisio, which debuted as a prototype at the National Automobile Museum of Turin on March 21. It's named after the 1902 Susa-Moncenisio race in Italy, the first automotive hillclimb in the world.
The Moncenisio begins life as Porsche Cayman S, and each car will be built to order with a planned production run of 19 examples. The chassis, mechanicals and engine are all left untouched. The only thing that Studiotorino alters are the body panels and interior appointments. Prices start at at a heady 145,000 euros ($200,420 US), plus the cost of the donor vehicle.
Architect Daniele Gaglione penned the shape of the Moncenisio, taking inspiration from the 1963 Porsche 904. The sports coupes receive carbon fiber pieces that replace the front bumper, side panels and rear bumper. Studiotorino also covers the rear side windows with welded metal panels. The design is still clearly a Cayman, especially from the front, but the extended roof and support pillars create a new look from behind, which features a new exhaust treatment and rear spoiler. The interior receives leather upholstery on the engine compartment cover, the partition between the engine and seats, ceiling and A-pillars. Scroll down to view a walkaround of the Moncenisio and read the full press release about it.

Hyundai, Porsche top J.D. Power APEAL study

Just as they did in the Initial Quality Study, Porsche and Hyundai have taken the premium and non-premium crown, respectively, for the 2014 J.D. Power APEAL study. This is the tenth consecutive year for that Porsche has been rated the best premium make in the APEAL study, which attempts to figure out how pleased owners are with their purchases. For 2014, it asked 86,000 owners of MY2014 cars to rate their vehicles in 77 different categories 90 days after their initial purchase. The resulting figures were plugged in deliver the APEAL score, which is rated on a 1,000-point scale.
The industry average sits at 794 points for 2014, although that's a one-percent decline over last year's rating. In this year's study, premium brands averaged 840 out of 1,000, while non-premium makes average 785. For their part, Porsche netted an impressive 882 points, while Hyundai earned an 804. Interestingly, only four non-premium brands (Hyundai, Ram, Volkswagen and Mini) finished above the industry average for 2014.
It's also interesting to see the clear delineation between premium and non-premium brands, with an eight-point gap between the non-premium champ, Hyundai, and the lowest-rated premium brand, Volvo.