Track-Only Porsche 911 GT2 RS Could Fight The Ferrari FXX K

This might be the most extreme 911 ever.

Having set the fastest lap at the Nurburgring ever recorded by a production car, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS is well established as a highly capable sports car. However, a hardcore, track-only version could be on the horizon. Porsche was recently spotted testing several protoype models at the Monza race circuit in Italy, including a new 718 Cayman GT4 race car, an updated 911 GT3 R for races such as the Bathurst 12 Hour, and the latest 911 RSR which will battle against Ford, Ferrari and Aston Martin at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

One of the cars, captured by YouTube channel 19Bozzy92, appears to be a modified GT2 RS sporting additional air vents, a more aggressive rear wing from the 911 GT3 Cup car, and center-mounted exhausts instead of the edges like the standard road car. It’s possible then, Porsche is preparing a new race car based on the GT2 RS.

Alternatively, it could be a more hardcore, track-only version of the GT2 RS to take on the likes of the McLaren Senna GTR and Ferrari FXX K. The engine note certainly sounds like the road car’s 3.8-liter twin-turbo unit, and the bodywork doesn’t look extreme enough to be a thoroughbred racer. Plus, Porsche already has a plethora of 911 race cars. Hopefully we'll learn more about Porsche’s new track toy at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, which is celebrating the German automaker’s 70th anniversary. A hardcore, track-only version of the most powerful 911 ever made would be the ultimate swan song to the 991 generation, before the new 992-generation model is unleashed next year.

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Porsche 911 Plug-In Hybrid Could Pack Nearly 500-HP

The performance of the first ever Porsche 911 PHEV sounds promising.

Next year, Porsche will launch the next-generation 911, codenamed the 992. And it came to the surprise of absolutely no one that it will be electrified a few years later with the launch of a plug-in hybrid version for the first time in the model’s history. Since the new model is now only a year away, we’ll have to wait a few more years for the first Porsche 911 plug-in hybrid to arrive “as soon as there is a market for it, which analysts say will be around 2023” according to Porsche CEO Oliver Blume in a recent interview with Automobile Magazine.

According to the report, the 911 plug-in hybrid will utilize a familiar 3.0-liter flat-six with a 94-hp electric motor capable of producing 229 lb-ft of instant torque. Battery capacity is claimed to be 10.8 kWh, providing an estimated electric range of more than 40 miles. This hybrid setup will reportedly produce 485 hp and 561 lb-ft of torque, allowing the eco-friendly 911 to accelerate from 0-62 mph in 3.5 seconds and go on to a top speed of 197 mph. This is still a Porsche 911 after all, so performance is paramount if the hybrid sports car is to be worthy of the 911 name. Still, those are some impressive figures considering the extra weight it will be carrying.

While other PHEVs focus on all-electric driving ranges, the semi-electric 911 hybrid is “more about torque vectoring and mid-range grunt.” As such, it will reportedly feature on-demand all-wheel drive, a button-activated 20-second torque boost, and lift-off coasting in eco-mode to save fuel. Meanwhile, the Turbo S version of the 992 generation is said to gain an extra 40 hp, bringing the total output to 620 hp. This could also increase when the mid-cycle refresh of the 992 arrives in around 2022. Sadly, the 992 GT3 is expected to lose its naturally aspirated 4.0-liter engine in favor of a twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat six. The good news, however, is that it will have a 10 percent power increase, delivering 550 hp.

The flat-six engines powering the 992 are expected to feature a mild hybrid 48V setup bringing an extra 20 hp and 52 lb-ft. Engineers are also developing a new eight-speed PDK to cope with the extra power and torque. Expect to see the new 992 Porsche debut at the Paris Motor Show in October with the reveal of the Carrera 2S and 4S coupes before first customer deliveries start in February 2019.

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The Four Brands VW Could Clump Together For Super-Premium Spin-Off

And it could be worth how many billions?

Volkswagen is still working to recover its reputation and other related spending in the wake of Dieselgate, and launching an entirely new line of state-of-the-art electric vehicles is just one way of doing that. While we’ve heard some past rumors regarding this, it seems like there’s a fairly good chance VW may be open to selling shares in a potential new super-premium brand group.

Speaking to Bloomberg, VW Group chief financial officer Frank Witter acknowledged that the world’s largest automaker remains opens to the possibility of selling shares of a potential new ultra-premium brand consisting of Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Porsche. Doing so could generate billions of dollars. However, VW has yet to make a final decision.

"It is a legitimate question, without a doubt,” Witter said last week at an investment seminar in London. Spinning off those brands as a single clump isn’t entirely without precedent. FCA is the best example when now-former CEO Sergio Marchionne made the decision to spin off Ferrari a few years ago. It has been an extraordinary success so it’s not surprising other automakers may take a similar path.

However, VW is not in any immediate rush. Perhaps the main reason being is that it’s currently preparing to spin off its heavy-trucks division for an IPO. It also wants to make its current 12 brands work together more efficiently. "Every other consideration might be down the road, but it’s currently not a priority the management is working on,” Witter added.

Now that VW’s new CEO, Herbert Diess, has had a few months in the big chair, it’ll be interesting to see what corporate structural changes he’ll make, if any. At the moment, for example, Lamborghini is tied to Audi, but that could change. Diess may ultimately decide to further link Lamborghini with Porsche, and then combine them with Bentley and Bugatti, as stated above.

By acting as a separate entity from the more mainstream VW brands, would allow those four premium brands greater autonomy to act in their more specified interests, potentially allowing for faster innovation and model development.

This premium division could be valued at more than $139 billion, twice that of the entire group’s current evaluation. See the attraction now, if you didn’t before?

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Range-Topping GTS Could Make Up Half Of All Porsche 718 Sales

Porsche’s North American CEO is confident the GTS will give the fledgling 718 Cayman and Boxster a new lease of life.

You wouldn’t normally expect an expensive range-topper to be the best-seller in a car model's line-up, but the recently introduced GTS versions of the Porsche 718 Cayman and Boxster could be a rare exception. In a new interview with Automotive News, Porsche’s North American CEO Klaus Zellmer revealed that he's so confident about Porsche’s new GTS range, he expects it will make up as much as 50 percent of all Porsche 718 sales in the US.

Demand for the GTS versions is "looking very good" since the order books opened earlier this fall according to Zellmer, which could give the fledgling 718 Cayman and Boxster a new lease of life. People know what they get if they buy a GTS, which is more sporty, and we certainly hope for more people engaging in our 718s," Zellmer said. "The segment overall of where we play with our 718 is a challenging segment, but especially now with the GTS, we see some activities at the shop floor, and orders being taken." Sales of the 718 range have been declining. 718 Boxster sales have fallen by 14 percent in the first 11 months of this year, while Cayman sales dropped 22 percent in the same period.

When the new models were introduced last year, Boxster sales were similarly down, while Cayman sales rose by just 0.8 percent in 2016. Zellmer attributed the sales drops in part to the lack of new variants based on the new re-engineered 718 Boxster and Cayman. Plainly, potential customers have been waiting for more powerful versions to arrive before taking the plunge. The 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman pack a 2.5-liter turbo four that produces 365 hp, which is 15 hp more than you get in the S models and 35 hp more than the previous Boxster and Cayman GTS. For now, the GTS is the most powerful version of the 718 but we’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder.

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Potential Porsche Stock Exchange Listing Could Be Worth Billions

VW’s premium brands could eclipse Ferrari three times over.

The VW Group is one of the largest in the automotive world, with products spanning everything from motorcycles to heavy-duty trucks. With such a diverse portfolio all bundled into one, potential investors are unable to cherry pick their preferred stocks and have to invest in the group as a whole.

Finance Chief Lutz Meschke made a statement at Porsche’s development center this past week where he outlined the benefits of listing VW’s premium brands as a separate entity on the stock exchange. The premium brands he was referring to in his speech included Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini.

“We would likely be viewed as a luxury goods manufacturer and the multiples are completely different compared with a normal premium brand,” Meschke told reporters. Analyst firm Evercore ISI estimated the VW Groups combined worth to be in the region of $170 billion, twice its current market capitalization, of which Porsche could make up more than half that amount if it were listed.

The Porsche Group was listed on its own before merging with the VW Group in 2009 and Evercore mentioned that, "from a governance, growth and profitability perspective, more autonomy and accountability would make the VW Group a better business. Separately listed legal entities would also provide VW with more flexibility."

Essentially, separating the different brands into more logical segments would be a beneficial move for the whole group. Meschke said that he had addressed the issue of the stock listing with company executives at VW Group headquarters and with the Porsche and Piech families that own a majority of the voting shares in the automaker.

Ferrari went public in 2016 and it had a knock-on effect for the Fiat Chrysler Group too with values of both organizations rising. While nothing concrete has been announced yet, a partial listing of the VW luxury brands may well be in the cards in the near future.

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A Porsche 911 SUV Could Happen

Porsche thinks a 911 SUV “could be a good idea”.

It’s been a busy week for Porsche, as the all-new 911 finally made its debut at the LA Auto Show. The automaker wasn’t quite ready to abandon the previous generation model though, as we also saw the surprise reveal of the track-only 911 GT2 RS. In another surprise, Porsche’s Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing, Detlev von Platen, has told Autocar India that an SUV based on the 911 could happen while discussing the future of the iconic sports car.

“The 911 is the center point for all design at Porsche and you will see its influence in other vehicles,” von Platen told Autocar India in LA. “But taking the 911 and making an SUV out of it? Taking it higher? That could be a good idea, and of course it won't be a model range but it will be a limited, a very niche product.” At this stage, it isn’t clear if there have been any internal discussions about a Porsche 911, but these comments suggest it could happen. If it gets the green light for production, it will also mark the first time the 911 has been sold in a different bodystyle.

The idea of a sporty Porsche 911 SUV will undoubtedly rile purists, but it perhaps isn’t surprising that the idea is being thrown around. Eyebrows were raised when the Cayenne first launched in 2002, but it practically pioneered the performance SUV segment, and the Macan continues to be Porsche’s best-selling model. The new SUV could perhaps be inspired by the jacked-up 911 Safari. Either way, it’s clear that performance SUVs are here to stay, as Aston Martin and Ferrari are also jumping on the SUV bandwagon in the next few years .

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This Is What A Mid-Engined Porsche 911 Could Look Like

Inspired by the fully electric Porsche Taycan.

Since its inception in the 1960s, the Porsche 911 has always adopted a rear-engine layout, and the 992 next-generation model will be no different. There have been a few exceptions, however. Back in the 1990s, Porsche built the road-going 911 GT1 Stra?enversion for homologation purposes, which featured a mid-mounted engine for the first time ever in a 911. More recently, the 911 RSR also broke the tradition with a mid-engine layout, but it’s restricted to the racetrack. Could it be applied to a road-going 911 again one day?

Purists probably won’t be happy, but Porsche hasn’t ruled out the possibility. “There is nothing coming soon, but in the mid-term don’t rule it out,” Andreas Preuninger, the boss of Porsche’s GT car development, told Autocar in an interview last year. “I think that adding some excitement to the car in this way wouldn’t be bad.”

Since then, render artist Rain Prisk imagined what a hypothetical mid-engined 911 could look like.

The design takes its cues from the upcoming Taycan electric sedan and also features a massive rear wing that looks like it belongs on the track-focused GT3 RS. Unlike traditional rear-engined 911s, the hypothetical mid-engined 911 no longer has a 2+2 seating layout and has been turned into a pure two-seater sports car. The resulting design looks like a cross between a Porsche and McLaren, but Porsche’s current design language lends itself well to a mid-engine layout. Time will tell if Porsche ever decides to produce a road-going successor to the GT1.

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The Porsche 911 Could Have Best US Sales Ever Next Year

There are two very good reasons why.

The only new rear-engined car in the world is still going strong and 2018 could end up being the Porsche 911’s best sales year ever in the US. Automotive News learned from Porsche Cars North America CEO Klaus Zellmer that the 991.2, as it enters its last full model year, is as popular as ever. Why are next year’s US sales predicted to be so great? Two answers: GT3 and GT2 RS. “911 is going to be very strong because we have two GT models that we’re not delivering this year but next year,” Zellmer said.

“The pent-up demand is enormous there – GT3, GT2 RS. We’re going to see huge numbers next year.” The GT3 is, as this very moment, just beginning to arrive in US dealerships, while the GT3 Touring and GT2 RS are due in early 2018. Let’s also not forget a certain other non-GT model, the Carrera T. The stripped-down 911 variant with a purist focus is already experiencing strong orders and will be in dealerships in March. Through last month, 8,197 Porsche 911’s were sold in the US alone, a 0.1 percent increase over last year. At this rate, Porsche isn’t surprised to see that figure reach 9,000 units before 2017 comes to a close.

If Porsche hopes 2018 to be a record sales year, then at least 10,442 911s will need to be sold. Why that exact figure? Because it’s the number sold in 2013 for the 991 generation’s inaugural year. The completely redesigned 911 is expected to go on sale in the second-half of 2019. But for now, there's a good chance the 991.2 will be going out with a bang.

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Could The Kia Stinger GT Be A Future Muscle Car Collectible?

One well-known collector’s car expert thinks it’s possible. Here’s why.

It wasn’t too many years ago when the coolest muscle cars out there were the originals from the late 1960s and early 70s. Sometimes one had to go “barn shopping” to find one. Today, however, is a very different era. Automotive News has an interesting article claiming that we’re now living in yet another muscle car golden era. Speaking with McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty classic car insurance agency, it’s clearer than ever today is performance car heaven, so to speak. “We’ve been in this strange golden age of muscle,” Hagerty said.

“People think the muscle car era was the ‘60s, early ‘70s. But arguably, the Chargers, Challengers, Demons and even some of the high-horsepower Camaros of today – they are track-worthy. You’ve never been able to buy more horsepower and reliability cheaper than you can right now. It will be interesting to see what happens with them.” What Hagerty is referring to with that last sentence is whether the cars’ long-term value will hold and, hopefully, increase. “My guess is that lower-mileage, higher-option examples of them will go through a depreciation curve. But then they will hold their own, if not start creeping back up,” Hagerty said.

Famous nameplates such as Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche will continue to be popular collector’s cars. “If those cars survive and don’t get wiped out in accidents, they’ll be collected someday.” But there could some wild card collectibles as well. The Kia Stinger GT is one example. “If you think of the Kia Stinger, that’s where I’m fascinated,” Hagerty explained. “I remember walking around an auto show and some people saying, ‘You gotta sit in this thing – it’s crazy.’ The question for us will be can a brand that wasn’t anything just a little while ago actually produce a car that could have collectible value?” Given that we’ll soon be entering the world of vehicle autonomy and electrification, today’s performance vehicles, regardless of brand, could all become highly sought after in the decades ahead.

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Next-Gen Porsche 911 Turbo S Could Get 630-HP To Fight Ferrari

Looks like the rivalry between Ferrari and Porsche is about to heat up.

Porsche is currently preparing the next-generation 911 to be unleashed in 2019, and perhaps unsurprisingly it looks a lot like the current model judging from recent spy photos and videos, albeit with some subtle changes. What matters, of course, is what’s under the hood. According to a report by Autocar, the 3.8-liter flat six engine in the new range-topping 911 Turbo S will be getting a significant power increase to 630 hp compared to the 580 hp you get in the current model.

It will also utilize hardware from the Nurburgring record-holding GT2 RS to increase the output, bringing it closer to the Ferrari 488 GTB. The standard Turbo model that sits below the S could also come packing 592 hp, which is 61 hp more than the current model. Both the Turbo and Turbo S will be capable of more than 200 mph. In theory, the new 911 has been built to accommodate a hybrid powertrain, but the all-wheel drive Turbo range will continue to only offer combustion engines to save weight and maximize performance. Should these specs be correct, the new Turbo S will be by far the quickest Turbo Porsche has ever made.

Expect the new Turbo S to beat the current model’s already impressive 2.9-second 0-62 mph time and the standard Turbo to dip below the three second mark for the first time. Set to debut in 2019, the new 911 will be built around an evolved MMB structure and feature a new chassis and improved suspension. While the length of the car will be unchanged, spy photos have shown that it will be wider, thus improving high speed stability and improving space for rear passengers. Its taillights are also inspired by the Mission E Concept. Incidentally, Ferrari is already working on a hardcore 488 GTO to fight the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. Looks like the rivalry between Ferrari and Porsche is about to heat up.

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Could The ZRX-05 Be Proof Acura Is About To Get Serious Again?

"What wins on Sunday, sells on Monday," as the old saying goes.

Aside from the NSX, the rest of the current Acura lineup is rather bland. Let’s face it. What happened to the Acura that we adored back in the 1990s with the likes of the Legend, Integra and RSX (especially the RSX Type-S)? Honda’s premium division has some work to do, but today we have some fresh confidence Acura is getting it together. Meet the ARX-05 prototype race car, joint Acura and Team Penske effort that’s having its debut at The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering, at Monterey Car Week.

A pair of these will actually race next year in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the prototype itself will debut at the Rolex 24 this coming January. Power comes from the twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 that’s under the hood of the Acura TLX, MDX, RDX, and RLX, only this time it’s been configured to produce around 600 hp.

This familiar and now more powerful than ever AR35TT engine has been utilized in motorsport before, specifically at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2011-13, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and LMP2 World Endurance Championship in 2012, and Petit Le Mans in 2016. "We’ve won with the Acura Integra Type R, the RSX, the first-generation NSX and with the Le Mans prototypes," stated Honda Performance Development boss Art St. Cyr. "Most recently, we’ve won with the new Acura NSX GT3. The ARX-05 is our fifth-generation prototype, and we expect great things from our partnership with Team Penske." Integra Type R? Did he just make reference to that? Yes.

You see, Acura desperately needs to get back into the performance car game if it plans on having a future. Six-figure supercars like the NSX are great and all, but that alone isn’t enough. Why isn’t Acura doing cars like the new Honda Civic Type R, only with sedans (or Cayman fighters)? Why isn’t the TLX the BMW 3 Series it needs to be? Perhaps Acura’s greater emphasis on motorsport, such as with the ARX-5 prototype, will lead to road cars that are actually worth their price tags.

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