New 2012 Porsche 911 a big change

The Boxster and Cayman will also be re-made to reflect the changes in a car that has been completely re-worked and revitalised under familiar skin.

The 2012 Porsche 911 has everything from tweaked bodywork to upgraded and uprated engines and transmissions, as well as the promise of a hybrid powerpack further down the road.

The basic 911 Carrera rises by around $6000 for the start of Australian sales next year and the Carrera S is up by around $10,000, or $1000 for each of the 10 centimetres added to the length of the car's extended wheelbase. The price increase - which pegs the bottom line at $229,900 for the Carrera and $263,100 for the S - are defended by Porsche.

"Obviously the question arises on price increases. It was a decision that was made globally that in every market the prices go up 2.9 and 3.9 per cent respectively," says Michael Winkler, managing director of Porsche Cars Australia.

Porsche fanatics are already queuing for the car, which will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show - following these first pictures - with a Carsguide preview drive in the USA in November.

"It's another huge step forward. The car is 95 per cent new," says Winkler. "It's not just one generation, it's a two-generation leap. There is carryover stuff like the steering wheel and knobs here and there, but only little things. All the sheetmetal is new. It's an entirely new platform and an entirley new car."

Porsche plans a predictable rollout of 911 models over the next 18 months, culminating in the force-fed Turbo and super-quick GT2 as well as the Cabriolet. It's not saying anything yet, though, about the hybrid.

The promise for the 991 series is a range of cars that are sleeker, a little larger and lighter, more powerful and faster, with lower emissions and less thirst. There are seven-speed gearboxes and more punch from the 3.8-litre flat six taking the basic engine to 257 kiloWatts and the S up to 294 with a 0-100km/h sprint time as low as 4.1 seconds.

The shape of the new 911 is classic Porsche, with bigger round headlamps in the nose and mirrors moved to the doors to improve visibility and cut wind noise. Inside, the cabin has been given the Panamera treatment to lift the perception of quality and tie the 911 more closely to the non-sports cars in the Porsche family.

Winkler says the only way to appreciate the new 911 is - not surprisingly - to take a test drive. "It's an accumulation of the small things. It's a Porsche trademark, that the end result is more than just the sum of the parts," he says.

He hints that the next-generation Boxster and Cayman will follow with a preview in 2012 before local sales in 2013. "The cars, as always, are a good year apart. it would be a logical assumption."

Sales of the latest 911 are slowing through its runout year but Winkler still expects around 300 deliveries, with a big kick in 2012 that will be closer to 400 cars. But he's not predicting a record, as Porsche managed 600 in 2008 off the back of the simultaneous local arrival of the GT3 and Turbo models.