Porsche’s Next Flagship Needs to be Raw, Distilled and Completely Different
We’ve seen the advanced technology, now let’s go back to purity in feel and performance.
Porsche’s history in racing is a legacy that needs no explanation, but when it comes to supercars, Porsche has a strange lineage. The proper rise of supercars started in the 1970s, but Porsche being a small sports car maker focused on racing and driver’s cars, ignored a lot of that new market. That all changed with the arrival of the 959 in 1986. Despite its roots in Group B homologation requirements, the 959 was the first time Porsche had created a proper road car that could be classified with the mid-engine supercars of the time.
A few years later the 959 faded out of existence and Porsche continued on as normal, focusing on lower-tier sports cars. In 2003 Porsche burst back into the supercar realm with the Carrera GT. Whereas the 959 was a showcase for the most advanced technology ever seen in a road car, the Carerra GT was raw power and focus with a naturally aspirated V10 engine and a simple six-speed manual transmission. In 2007 the Carrera GT fell out of production and once again Porsche concentrated on standard models like the 911 and Boxster range.
The supercar gene came out in the family lineup once more in 2013. It saw Porsche go back to the high technology of the 959 era by creating a plug-in hybrid supercar with the 918 Spyder. With a price right around a million dollars, nearly 900 horsepower, and the ability to travel for several miles on pure battery power, the 918 set a new performance benchmark for Porsche. Of course, after a small production run, the 918 died and Porsche went back to focusing on 911s again.
But I want to look to the future now. What will Porsche do next? I don’t have any insider knowledge, but I do know what I want to see in the next ultimate Porsche, and it involves a cyclical move back to the legacy of the Carrera GT.
For Stuttgart’s next halo car, I don’t want to see a technological tour-de-force. I want to see an honest to god sports car that tickles every nerve in your body with excitement and anticipation when you hear its name mentioned. I want a new Carerra GT, and I want it to be a front-engine coupe.
Please hold your pitchforks until we are done. Thank you.
When it comes to style and balance, it’s so hard to beat the traditional FR coupe. The Jaguar F-type, Mercedes-AMG GT, Aston Martin DB11 and 812 Superfast are astonishingly beautiful and evocative. I want that for a Porsche. Imagine the tight rear end of a 911 coupled with the long hood of something like an F-Type. A sultry expression of the ungainly Panamera design.
And then, imagine if Porsche went batshit crazy and stuffed a new 10-cylinder engine into the thing. And not a V10, I mean a proper “leaning on the legacy of Porsche” horizontally-opposed 10-cylinder. Take the 4.0L flat-six out of the 911 GT3 and lengthen it with the addition of a few cylinders and you’d end up with 6.7L H10. If Porsche could manage to keep close to the same specific output of 125 hp per liter from the 4.0L, we’d have well over 800 ponies on tap.
If Porsche forgets about turbochargers, battery power, AWD, and starts cutting weight with the advanced composite technology from the 918, we could be feasibly see a sub 3,000-pound curb weight. Can you even imagine? A naturally aspirated 10-cylinder pushing 800 horsepower, tucked into a Porsche designed front-engine coupe. The engine design would allow Porsche to set that motor way down into the chassis for improved balance and handling, and the low weight would make it unbelievably fast. McLaren’s freshly unveiled Senna has a curb weight of less than 2500 pounds, so there is no reason Porsche can’t hit an aggressive weight target.
With Porsche focusing on creating driver-focused “stripper” model 911s like the 911 R, GT3 Touring Package, and now the 911 T, this sort of new supercar doesn’t seem that far removed from the realm of possibility.
But now it’s time to grab those pitchforks and light those torches. Hit the forum or the comments and let me know your thoughts on a Porsche building a super GT. Am I signing a one-way ticket to the madhouse, or do you guys think a new direction for Porsche’s flagships would a nice change of pace? All I ask is that we keep the death threats to a minimum. They worry the wife.
