Porsche 911 2012 News

... and also set for a 2013 reveal as the latest 911 range continues to grow.The highlight for the newcomer is a clever new retractable centre roof section.

The fixed rear wing and twin exhausts are the giveaway among a series of body upgrades, but the best news is promises of 340 kiloWatts in the second half of next year.

This test car also has a fixed rear wing, deeper front spoiler with big air vents and centrally-mounted exhaust pipes.The car is expected to have around 335 kiloWatts.

It says the all-wheel drive hero car will have 410 kiloWatts with body changes including wider guards, air inlets for the intercoolers and an integrated exhaust pipe in the rear bumper.

That’s how Craig Homann of Gulson Canberra described winning first prize in the Porsche Cars Australia 'Service Excellence Awards 2011 for Service Consultants’. And the prize he enjoyed so much? Spending a day blasting around a race track in a Porsche GT3.“The prize was the chance to complete the Porsche Sports Driving School Master - Level 4 at Brisbane raceway, including flights and accommodation,” Homann said.“Yes, it was better than winning money. The experience costs $3500 for a normal customer; and if I was given money I wouldn't have spent it on the GT3 day -- and would never have known what I was missing out on. An experience like that is priceless.”Homann said the Sports Driving School Master training was intense. “Performance training comprises of a variety of exercises, with concentrated driving components, in particular driving a racing line at high speeds and the resulting load-changing reactions, aimed at further improving your command of the vehicle,” he said.“One of the main components is circuit lapping, which is given further attention during the course. Here you have an opportunity to put your knowledge to the test over the entire circuit.“Porsche has a team of expert drivers as instructors, including Luke Youlden – who I drove with on the day - Alex Davison, Mark Adderton, Jonathon Webb, Andy McElrea, Scott Jacob, Warren Luff, Ian Dyk, Daniel Pappas and Fabian Coulthard. The instructor monitors your driving on the racetrack from the lead vehicle before assessing your progress, prior to your own solo lapping. You have to complete this training level before you can take part in the Master course.“The Master level course uses the high performance 911 GT3 and is designed to take your skills to the next level. The car is the closest vehicle to a real race car available from the showroom floor. It features a race developed, 3.6 litre, 305kW (415bhp) engine, 8400 rpm rev limit, six-speed manual gearbox and adjustable dampers, rollbars and spoiler."Race developed suspension tuning, bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres and great down force from the aero package (wing and front spoiler) mean greatly enhanced grip levels. The more grip the car generates, the harder it is to drive close to the limit. The lines and technique must, therefore, be very precise.“Satellite tracking is used to record the exact position of the car on the racetrack. This information, downloaded to a laptop, is overlaid and adjusted against the data set by the instructor. This is the most sophisticated tool available to improve the lines through the corners."The cars are equipped with lightweight seats and a roll cage and are monitored by Porsche instructors and engineers. One-on-one instruction is followed up by solo runs with radio communication. Given the level of complexity, technology and individual tuition, the course is limited to eight participants. A ‘must’ if you have an eye on the GT3 Cup program.”Homann says he had his eye on the prize from the start of the Service Excellence Awards, although he was not fast off the line when the competition opened.“The competition ran for five months, from the start of June until the end of October.  After a slow start in June, I managed to take the lead in my group and hold on to it until the end of the competition,” he said. “The competition divided the Porsche Centres throughout Australia into two groups, each of which would compete for the prize, with five scoring criteria: Service Reminder Penetration; Service Customer Mobility; Warranty Extension Penetration; Customer Satisfaction; and Training - learning path completion.”

The new Porsche 911 convertible shares its new, high tech aluminium-steel body with the Coupe, and the convertible extends this innovation to its new roof. When raised, the design of the roof ensures the iconic 911 roof line is retained in its entirety. Intelligent lightweight design, including the use of magnesium in the frame, ensures reduced weight for increased responsiveness, lower fuel consumption and greater comfort. As is the case with the Coupe model, the new 911 Cabriolet is significantly lighter overall than its predecessor. Combined with lower weight, the new 911 Cabriolet models share the longer wheelbase, wider front track and the new electro-mechanical power steering of their Coupe siblings, ensuring the open-roofed models offer more sporting driving characteristics, greater precision and agility compared to the prior model. In addition, there are further standard or optional active control systems available that further enhance driving dynamics. The Cabriolet models offer the same powertrain line-up of rear-mounted, flat-six engines as the Coupe equivalents in 3.4-litre and 3.8-litre flat six cylinder form with manual or automated manual transmissions

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.

That's the bottom line on the 911 Turbo S convertible, which will be unveiled next month at the Geneva Motor Show before local sales in September.The force-fed droptop, which also comes as a coupe for $423,300, has had a major power boost from the 'regular' 911 Turbo's 368 kiloWatts to a full-house 390 - with 700 Newton-metres of torque.Porsche says the extra punch drops the 0-100km/h sprint time to 3.3 seconds and lifts the top speed to 315km/h.  The Turbo S comes standard with Porsche's Sport Chrono package, including launch control, as well as paddles to shift the PDK seven-speed, dual-clutch gearbox.It's the first new Turbo S model from Porsche in five years and comes with traction management, all-wheel-drive and a mechanical rear differential lock.Porsche says it has also improved efficiency with fuel economy of 11.4 litres/100km, no more than the regular 911 Turbo.

Only about five Porsche 911 Sport Classics — a hand-built, bespoke celebration of the 911's 40-year history — will come to Australia from a fixed global production run of just 250. So exclusive is the car that Porsche Australia spokesman Paul Ellis doesn't know the final price and has yet to take any orders. "But we know we'll sell what we can get," he says. "This is a very exclusive car that is basically hand built. It even has a woven leather interior as well as the very best components from Porsche." The Porsche 911 Sport Classic revives the aura of one of its most outstanding models, the 1973 Carrera RS 2.7. It's taken Porsche three years to develop this car and yet it will make only 250 units. To be shown at next week's Frankfurt Motor Show, the Sport Classic has been developed by the company's specialist department, Porsche Exclusive. Reflecting the Carrera's design is the Sport Classic's ducktail rear spoiler and the Fuchs-style design of the special custom-made alloy wheels. The distinctive double-dome roof is borrowed from the style of the 911 Panamericana show car and in the roofline of the Carrera GT. The coupe is further defined by its more powerful engine, unique exterior with reshaped front and rear styling, a new centre section in the roof, new side sills and new shape of front and rear lights. Porsche says that every car in this limited series comes in an exclusive paint colour called Sport Classic Grey with subtle dark trim strips. The interior is finished in Espresso Nature and is claimed to go further than the current customising portfolio available on the other 911 models. Power comes from a worked version of the 3.8-litre flat-six engine that now delivers 300kW. The engine has a unique six-butterfly intake manifold. The Sport Classic has a six-speed manual transmission and sprints to 100km/h from rest in 4.6 seconds and on to a top speed of 302km/h. Fuel consumption, for those who care, is claimed to average 10.6 litres/100km. While the limited edition 911 Sport Classic is based on the 911 Carrera S, it has aluminium doors and features the rear bodywork of the all-wheel drive models — meaning it is 44mm wider and has a rear track extended by 34mm.  

The Frankfurt Motor Show literally roared to life this morning when a classic BMW 507 roadster ran laps of a custom-built oval track inside the German carmaker's $30 million stand.