Porsche is going to unveil a new production car ...

[Alfred1]

at the 2005 North American International Auto Show. What do you think/hope that it will be?

[BigD9146gt]

An aircooled lightweight mid engine car. But since the Boxter is already playing the mid engine role, and we're now in SUV land, a 5 door 8 seater minivan that will do 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. Ever since Ferry died, the direction of the company has stopped vintage parts production and increased mass market consumption. Why not, this isn't a racing company anymore, its a money making company that relies on its past to prove itself now instead of playing an active role in being what it used to be.... Race on sunday, sell on monday. They let the rich boys at The Racers Group do their real work and the showroom floor boys reap the credit.

[Alfred1]

Sadly, I agree with you. Soon Porsche will be one of those companies like Bentley, or Alfa Romeo that have a great racing heritage but it's all in the past.

[JmuRiz]

I'm betting on the rumored Boxter GT Coupe...been hearing stuff about a GT3 treatment on a boxter coupe...now that'd be a fun little racer. We'll see, hope it's not the hybrid pepper-vagon

[Acox914]

i heard a 4 door sedan....

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The rumor mill says that the 4-door is still a good ways away. I'd bet my money (a whole nickel!) that it's the Boxster coupe that we've seen spy shots of for the past year or so. I doubt it'll ever get the "GT3" treatment, though--you couldn't have the base-model car (in any variant!) being faster than the top-of-the-line car, now, could you?

--DD

[914helo]

Maybe it will be a real throwback and they'll produce another tractor.

[curtis]

Originally posted by Alfred1
Sadly, I agree with you. Soon Porsche will be one of those companies like Bentley, or Alfa Romeo that have a great racing heritage but it's all in the past.

What do you mean soon Porsche will become one of those companys when they already are one!

[Alfred1]

Well, they did win Le Mans in '98. Maybe they could enter a Cayenne in the Paris-Dakar race or Baja 1000 - at least they'd be racing. Btw, I thought BigD's guess of a quick minivan was hilarious but you never know anymore - soccer moms are a big untapped segment for Porsche.

[BigD9146gt]

When was the last time the Porsche Factory team was an event trying to win? '98 wasn't that long ago, but 6 years... with no hint that they (the factory) will race the CGT? They aren't even keeping us on our toes anymore. There is no anticpation of the factory doing any of the racing... its all private.

Now Porsche is better than Ferrari, who only has private teams avaliable to which you need to pay to get any type of factory like support, where as Porsche provides lots of parts and info as support.

The original post is "New Production car". Does the Boxster coupe or any varient fall into that catigorie? If not, i think i'll side with Dave about a 4 door. But, I don't think Porsche learned its lesson with the 924/928/944/968's trans axel design and the labor intensive clutch replacement, so my vote goes for that setup in a 4 door platform.

[BURN-BROS]

Originally posted by 914helo
Maybe it will be a real throwback and they'll produce another tractor.

LOL! Thats too funny.

[mattr_914]

Originally posted by Alfred1
Sadly, I agree with you. Soon Porsche will be one of those companies like Bentley, or Alfa Romeo that have a great racing heritage but it's all in the past.

They arent competing in the high dollar P1 class (formerly P900) in Le Mans, instead they are letting their partner audi use their name plate to boost sales. Instead they are DOMINATING the GT class with their GT3 and GT3 RS.

They arent doing CART or IRL any more... but do you blame them? Its a mess! F1 is a joke now too, its so high dollar. So aside from Nascar, Le Mans is the next highest grossing road racing out there. You could argue they should get into WRC, but last time they did that FIA changed the rules so they couldnt compete.

[Alfred1]

How are Porsche and Audi partners? I think the recent Bentley Le Mans winner had Audi mechanicals but as far as I know there is no current racing connection between Porsche and Audi. Btw, why do some of you feel the need to advertise the 914Club in your signatures on this board? I know Brad Roberts didn't like it when people on his board pointed others to the tech articles on the Pelican site.

[JmuRiz]

Porsche was working with Audi, and Audi is the same company as Bentley. Funny how Porsche was developing a new ALMS car and scrapped it right when the Audi car was about to get real good. Also the Audi factory dropped out and basically worked on the Bentley when it won. I think when Audi wants out of the LeMans scene is when Porsche will get back in.

[BigD9146gt]

Thats good insite JmuRiz, it'll be interesting to see if that happens.

Matt, WRC is no slouch either. I don't know if its right or not, but i recall reading the WRC teams spend more money on WRC than any other sport. Now this wouldn't strick me as possible with the likes of Ferrari, and I think Toyota has now gained the lead in top spenders. But, you take into accound how many fans pay to see F1, thats a lot of capital there. WRC... show up with a lawn chair and your favorite brew, not to mention each car has to have a helicopter chaissing it on the stages.

Cart, IRL, F1 are not endurance. But then again, it depends on your definition of endurance: a 3litre motor spining at 18,000RPM for 1.5 hours could be considered endurance. But here, the time factor is what we look for. Sprints were never big parts of Porsches claim to fame. Hill climes, rallies, enduros, thats the stuff Porsche is made of. And don't forget Audi took over the Group B scene in rally during the eightes with the quattro... then that was banned...mainly for safety reasons. Everyone has had their fair share being banned for seaking the loopholes in the rules. It just seems to be those few companies that always get targeted because they are so much more innovative than the others.

[norustscott]

call me crazy...but I would rather see an eight passenger multi- configuration ( camper, multi van, classic estate wagon) mini van from prosche that the current MVP offering

[firey914]

I say they throw the cayenne's v8 into the front of a coupe, and make it a big 4 seat coupe (645ci style) - revive the 928

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Why? The 928 didn't sell in the 90s, no reason to expect it would sell in the 00s.

--DD

[BigD9146gt]

True Dave, but the 928 was Porsches flag ship car to take over the 911 (excuse me for a second, that always makes me laugh). Now that the 911 is no longer aircooled, i think the V8 has a chance against the H2NO cooled 911's.

[jim912928]

I'd love to see a 928 type car revived. I own a 911, 928 and a 914. Since I've just finished restoring the 914 I have not been able to autocross it yet so I don't know how it will compare....But I'm consistently faster in my 928 then my 911. Those things really do handle and are deceivingly fast!