Polestar 1 Costs Nearly As Much As A Porsche 911 Turbo

Pricing details have finally been confirmed for Polestar’s first ever performance coupe.

Pre-orders for Polestar’s first ever performance car, aptly called the Polestar 1, recently went live for prospective customers. While demand has been high, pricing details hadn't yet been confirmed – until now. At the Beijing Auto Show, Polestar finally confirmed how much the plug-in hybrid will cost – and it won't be cheap. In the US, the Polestar 1 will be sold for $155,000, while Europeans will be able to buy the hybrid performance coupe for 155,000 Euros.

An all-inclusive monthly subscription service will also be available, with details to be announced at a later date. At $155,000, the Polestar 1 costs around the same as the BMW i8 and Acura NSX hybrid performance coupes. The Polestar 1 is more powerful than its rivals with 600-hp on tap, and also has the longest electric range of any hybrid car at 90 miles. Its limited production run of just 500 models may also explain how Polestar is justifying its asking price. But paying $155,000 for a car related to Volvo is still hard to swallow – especially when you consider it costs nearly as much as a Porsche 911 Turbo.

So far, over 7,000 people in 18 countries have placed a deposit to pre-order the Polestar 1. “We have seen a strong initial response from our first customers,” said Polestar’s CEO Thomas Ingenlath. “This gives us confidence that our brand has a bright future. In 2019 already we will launch our next car, the Polestar 2 – a mid-sized fully-electric car which is well developed in its engineering phase. We will follow that up with the Polestar 3, a stunning electric SUV with a beautiful aerodynamic silhouette that is already advanced in its design phase.” Pre-production testing for the Polestar 1 will start by the end of the year before customer deliveries start next year.

View the original article here

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.

View the original article here

Nearly 60,000 Porsche Macans And Cayennes Recalled For Illegal Software

Of course it's diesel engine related.

The diesel engine scandal surrounding the Volkswagen Group will not go away, and nor should it. According to Bloomberg, German regulators have forced Porsche, one of VW’s many brands, to recall nearly 60,000 Macan and Cayenne SUVs in Europe in order to fix manipulated diesel engines. German regulators discovered irregularities in the engine software “that could reduce emissions controls for smog-inducing nitrogen oxide.” Sound familiar?

It should, because it’s very similar to how the Dieselgate scandal was uncovered in the first place in the US and Europe. The precise breakdown of recalled vehicles is 52,831 Macan 3.0-liter turbo V6s and 6,755 Cayenne 4.2-liter V8 turbo diesels. Question is, will this recall involve US market vehicles? No, because the Macan diesel was never sold in the US and the diesel 4.2 V8 was never made available on US market diesel Cayennes, only the 3.0-liter diesel, which was long ago recalled. Porsche receives both of these diesel engines from Audi, and back in February it discovered what it described as some “irregularities” in emissions testing. To its credit, it immediately informed German regulators of the issue.

Meanwhile, Audi (who only a few weeks ago stopped deliveries of its new A6 and A7) says it expects those same regulators to issue additional diesel recalls in Europe this summer. Owners of the affected Porsche SUVs will soon be contacted by dealerships once an engine fix has been approved by regulators.

(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-MJCGS3N');var _comscore = _comscore || [];_comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "28140907" });(function() {var s = document.createElement("script"), el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.async = true;s.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js";el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el);})();

View the original article here

Next Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Spied Running Around Nearly Naked

The camouflage continues to peel away, this time at the Nurburgring.

Here’s what we know: Porsche is hard at work developing the next generation 911 lineup. At this point, the 992 911 Carrera should be nearly good to go, as it’ll reportedly make its official debut this fall at the Paris Motor Show. Other variants will soon follow, such as the next 911 Turbo. While we’ve already seen some spy shots of the 992 911 Turbo coupe, today, for the first time, our spy photographers have spotted the new 911 Turbo convertible out testing in very familiar turf: the Nurburgring. How can we tell this is the Turbo and not the Carrera?

Just look at its wider fenders and the big rear spoiler. Sources tell us the 992 911 Turbo coupe and convertible will come powered by the must-have flat-six, which will of course be twin turbocharged. Total output is projected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of around 600 hp. Anything less wouldn’t be good. Why? Because the current generation 911 Turbo S already produces 580 hp, so there’s no way Porsche could reduce output in this case. Power will be directed to all four wheels through the latest version of Porsche’s highly regarded seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission. Looking more closely at these photos, it’s kind of hard to make out some of the Turbo’s details.

Thanks to previous shots of the coupe version testing, however, we can see Porsche has done a nice job with the styling updates. For example, up front there are double LED light strips encased in the front grille. The hood extends all the way to the bumper, a styling trait borrowed from the classic 911. This time, however, there’s a far more clear view of final shape of the air intakes on the rear fenders. We’ll learn a lot more about the 992 911 Turbo throughout the year as hype will continue to build following the 992 Carrera’s debut. So when will we see the new Porsche 911 Turbo? Based on Porsche’s reveal history, new 911 Turbos launch roughly one year following the 911 Carrera’s debut, meaning Frankfurt 2019 is a very good bet in this case.

View the original article here

Nearly 60,000 Porsche Macans And Cayennes Recalled For Illegal Software

Of course it's diesel engine related.

The diesel engine scandal surrounding the Volkswagen Group will not go away, and nor should it. According to Bloomberg, German regulators have forced Porsche, one of VW’s many brands, to recall nearly 60,000 Macan and Cayenne SUVs in Europe in order to fix manipulated diesel engines. German regulators discovered irregularities in the engine software “that could reduce emissions controls for smog-inducing nitrogen oxide.” Sound familiar?

It should, because it’s very similar to how the Dieselgate scandal was uncovered in the first place in the US and Europe. The precise breakdown of recalled vehicles is 52,831 Macan 3.0-liter turbo V6s and 6,755 Cayenne 4.2-liter V8 turbo diesels. Question is, will this recall involve US market vehicles? No, because the Macan diesel was never sold in the US and the diesel 4.2 V8 was never made available on US market diesel Cayennes, only the 3.0-liter diesel, which was long ago recalled. Porsche receives both of these diesel engines from Audi, and back in February it discovered what it described as some “irregularities” in emissions testing. To its credit, it immediately informed German regulators of the issue.

Meanwhile, Audi (who only a few weeks ago stopped deliveries of its new A6 and A7) says it expects those same regulators to issue additional diesel recalls in Europe this summer. Owners of the affected Porsche SUVs will soon be contacted by dealerships once an engine fix has been approved by regulators.

View the original article here

This Rare 1995 RUF 911 Is Nearly As Fast As Today's Supercars

But is it worth its crazy asking price?

Special edition versions of the Porsche 911 have become the envy of collectors, with insane price tags to match. There are many rare 911 models that have been built over the years, but some of the rarest and most impressive models come from German manufacturer RUF. The CTR Yellowbird was perhaps the most legendary car that RUF ever produced, so much so that the company is actually reproducing the car. The Yellowbird was certainly legendary, but its successor was also an extremely impressive car.

RUF burst onto the scene with the Yellowbird, which was based on a Carrera 3.2. In 1995, RUF needed to replace the CTR with a new model, which needed to be spectacular to live up to the legend of the Yellowbird. RUF called this new car the CTR2, and it was based on the 993 Turbo. The 993 generation is now one of the most popular 911 models on the market, and prices have clearly reflected that. Back in 1995, the CTR2 had an extremely high asking price of $315,000. This may not sound too bad by today's standards, but keep in mind that a V12 Lamborghini Diablo would have been around $230,000 back in 1995.

The CTR2 may have been expensive when new, but after seeing one for sale today, it's obvious that the car was a good investment. We found a 1995 CTR2 for sale at McLaren of Scottsdale for a whopping $799,000. This is one of the most expensive 911 models that we've seen in a while, but there are many reasons why this car demands such a big premium over a normal 993. For starters, this CTR2 is one of only 16 produced from 1995 to 1997. Power comes from a race-derived version of Porsche's air-cooled 3.6-liter twin-turbo flat-six, which was used in the Porsche 962 Le Mans Group C car. RUF tuned this engine to produce a massive 520 hp and 505 lb-ft of torque.

The CTR2 was available with either RWD or AWD and came with Recaro racing seats with five-point belts, enlarged brakes, roll-cage, RUF manufactured coil-over suspension, bi-functional rear wing, and a kevlar body with lightweight glass. Performance was off the charts at the time, and is still competitive with today's supercars. 0-60 mph took just 3.5 seconds and the top speed was around 220 mph. Only the McLaren F1 was able to best the CTR2's performance by 1998. In a 1997 issue of Road & Track, the CTR2 completed the quarter-mile in 11.4 seconds at 133.7 mph, which could easily keep up with today's sports cars.

This example has less than 26,000 miles on the odometer, and looks extremely fresh on the inside and out. It is not very often that a RUF comes up for sale in the US, so Porsche collectors should be quick to scoop this one up.

View the original article here