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NEWS
Porsche prepping Ferrari fighter
More details of all-new Porsche ‘961' emerge as Stuttgart sportscar maker looks to fill gap between 911 and 918Porsche has long been rumoured to be developing its first direct rival for Ferrari’s entry-level coupe, the 458 Italia, to fill the yawning gap between its 911 range and next year’s million-dollar 918 Spyder plug-in supercar.
Now, according to Auto Express, production of yet another Porsche model has been approved for production and the all-new supercar will be called the 961.
Although it doesn’t quote him, Auto Express says Porsche CEO Matthias Muller has confirmed the Stuttgart sportscar brand is working on a mid-engined supercar to rival the 458, priced from around £250,000 (about $A385,000).
That will position the ‘961’ above the fastest and most expensive versions of Porsche’s latest 991-series 911 line-up, which now opens at $229,400 for the Carrera coupe and closes at $315,000 for the Carrera 4S, but will be joined by cabriolet, GT3, Turbo and, eventually, top-shelf Turbo S variants.
However, it’s understood it will borrow more heavily from the limited-edition 918 in terms of both design and engineering. including a lightweight carbon-fibre reinforced plastic monocoque chassis.
Eschewing the twin-turbo flat six that powers the most rapid 911, the Turbo S, the 961 is also expected to be powered by a version of the 918’s race-derived 4.6-litre V8 (pictured). Peak power of about 425kW is likely to result in 0-100km/h acceleration in a little over three seconds, matching the 458 and McLaren’s MP4-12C.
Porsche is in the middle of its 991 911 model rollout, with the all-wheel drive Carrera 4 and 4S launched in Europe last week, followed by the new GT3 next year, the Turbo by early 2014 and the redesigned GT2 in 2015.
It has also committed to releasing plug-in hybrid versions of the Panamera sedan and Cayenne SUV (which also gains an S Diesel version soon), and both the 918 and Macan compact crossover commence production in Europe next September – although only the latter will be sold here, from early 2014.
Porsche is also expected to expand the next-generation Panamera range to include wagon, convertible and 928-style coupe derivatives, but there is still no word on details of the smaller ‘Pajun’ sedan expected to slot beneath the full-size Panamera.
Porsche has ruled out an all-new compact sportscar to position beneath the Boxster for the time being, but still aims to double its annual sales to 200,000 by 2018.
High-volume SUV models like the Macan and Cayenne will play the largest part of that strategy, but it’s not yet clear how many additional models Porsche will need to achieve that goal.
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