Porsche Cayman "GT3 RS"?
04-12-2013, 01:59 PM
#1
Race Director
Thread Starter
Porsche Cayman "GT3 RS"?
something i've been yearning for.
from Insideline
http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/f...uld-build.html
Porsche Cayman GT3 RS
If Cinderella were a car, her name would be Cayman. Cayman isn't tasked with scrubbing floors and toilets around Stuttgart and forbidden to attend royal *****, but she is destined to forever live in the cold shadow of her elder sibling: 911 Carrera. Frankly, we're tired of Porsche pretending to throw us a bone with an inferior (yet still pretty good) substitute that is the Cayman R. We demand an uncompromised effort, the sum of Porsche's greatest parts, which would culminate in the Cayman GT3 RS.
A direct-injected 475-hp, 3.8-liter flat-6 fitted with forged pistons and titanium connecting rods is centrally mounted and paired with the latest-generation seven-speed PDK. Its carbon-skinned aluminum unibody weighs no more than 2,800 pounds. All the usual high-tech goodies like dynamic engine mounts and Porsche torque vectoring are included, as are forged aluminum center-lock wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rubber. The 911's track record speaks for itself, but it's standing in the way of a more proficient platform starving for power.
Porsche, we dare you to prove us wrong.
from Insideline
http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/f...uld-build.html
Porsche Cayman GT3 RS
If Cinderella were a car, her name would be Cayman. Cayman isn't tasked with scrubbing floors and toilets around Stuttgart and forbidden to attend royal *****, but she is destined to forever live in the cold shadow of her elder sibling: 911 Carrera. Frankly, we're tired of Porsche pretending to throw us a bone with an inferior (yet still pretty good) substitute that is the Cayman R. We demand an uncompromised effort, the sum of Porsche's greatest parts, which would culminate in the Cayman GT3 RS.
A direct-injected 475-hp, 3.8-liter flat-6 fitted with forged pistons and titanium connecting rods is centrally mounted and paired with the latest-generation seven-speed PDK. Its carbon-skinned aluminum unibody weighs no more than 2,800 pounds. All the usual high-tech goodies like dynamic engine mounts and Porsche torque vectoring are included, as are forged aluminum center-lock wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup rubber. The 911's track record speaks for itself, but it's standing in the way of a more proficient platform starving for power.
Porsche, we dare you to prove us wrong.
05-29-2013, 03:19 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
Cayman GT 3 at end of this article
Is Porsche Still a Sports Car Maker?
As SUVs Outsell Speedsters, Luxury Brand Hopes Le Mans Will Keep Flame Alive
By VANESSA FUHRMANS
LEIPZIG, Germany—As Porsche maneuvers deeper into the markets for SUVs and sedans, it is racing to remind a new generation of drivers what gave the brand its original mystique—speed.
The brand has unnerved purists in recent years, first with the launch of its hulking Cayenne sport-utility vehicle, then a four-door sedan called the Panamera. Though the expansion has boosted the Volkswagen AG-owned car maker's sales by nearly 50% over the past four years, the Cayenne and Panamera made up roughly three-quarters of its 143,000 vehicle sales last year.
Next year, Porsche takes yet another big step from its sports-car roots with a new compact SUV. Chief Executive Matthias Müller says it could add up to 75,000 to its annual sales—further eclipsing Porsche's legendary 911, Boxster roadster and its hard-topped sibling, the Cayman. The company also is weighing developing a smaller version of the Panamera.
"If the sports cars get drowned out, they risk killing the golden goose," says Mark Ritson, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Melbourne's business school who has consulted for luxury brands. A happy Cayenne owner, Mr. Ritson counts himself as one of the thousands of decidedly nonsports-car drivers Porsche has lured with its model expansion. But the powerful SUV "is so far from a [911] Carrera, it is unbelievable," he adds. "It is a big, fat people-mover."
Porsche is turning to measures unusual for a car maker known for its minimalist marketing efforts to keep that adrenaline-pumping connection alive. It is returning to the 24 hours of Le Mans race next year and building "experience" centers in Shanghai, Atlanta and Los Angeles aimed at cultivating sports-car aficionados with on- and off-road test tracks and driving courses. It also has stepped up Porsche roadshow events.
"I'm convinced we have to do something to keep our brand image high, and these kinds of measures are helping do that," said Mr. Müller in a recent interview at the company's Stuttgart headquarters.
A longtime veteran of German luxury-car maker Audi and its parent Volkswagen, which completed a protracted takeover of Porsche last year, Mr. Muller has implemented many of the moves since becoming CEO in late 2010.
Porsche's efforts underscore the tricky balancing act niche car makers face in leveraging their brands to fuel growth and finance ever-costlier technologies without diluting them in the process. Even as it pushes toward a target of 200,000 cars in annual sales by 2018, every Porsche that rolls off the company's German assembly lines is custom-built to each buyer's wishes, down to the stitching of its leather interior.
The hefty premium its customers pay for that cachet has translated into some of the best profitability in the auto business. In 2012, Porsche's operating profit climbed 19% to €2.44 billion ($3.14 billion), a 17.6% return on its €13.9 billion in revenue. In contrast, operating margin at Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz car business last year was 7.1%, and it was 5.2% at General Motors Co .
On a recent drizzle-filled morning in Leipzig, where Porsche already runs on- and off-road test track and offers driving courses, sports car novices and aficionados alike got a taste of the racing and handling prowess the auto maker's lithe speed demons are known for. Half a dozen Porsche 911s zipped around the slippery Formula 1-grade test track, as some of the company's 300 racing instructors worldwide rode shotgun and coached their student drivers through the hairpin curves at top speeds.
"Ok, so that's what this car can really do," said Stephen Smith, a Canadian hotel owner who'd travelled to Porsche's Leipzig track to test his sports-car driving mettle and pick up a custom ordered 911. As he pulled in for a pit stop, he let out a big breath of air and laughed: "It's definitely a great marketing tool." More than 30,000 Porsche drivers and would-be customers took part in such driving events last year, and the brand expects to woo even more with the new centers in China and the U.S.
Porsche's speedy rise in China has made its efforts all the more challenging. Within a decade, China has become the German car maker's second-biggest market behind the U.S., thanks to the Cayenne's runaway success. Yet barely 7% of its sales there are for its sporty two-seaters.
Many wealthy Chinese prefer being chauffeured and riding in a plush back seat. Though more Chinese—especially the affluent young—are getting behind the wheel themselves, the country's sports-car culture is still in its infant stages, held back in part by its often poor roads and congested city traffic.
In response, Porsche is directing much of its sports-car profile-raising efforts there. Its Shanghai experience center, which opens early next year, is being built next to the city's nine-year-old Formula One racing circuit to draw on its crowds. In addition to sponsoring driving schools and roadshows, it also is organizing a growing number of professional and Porsche customer races around the country.
Ultimately, says Porsche's Mr. Müller, he hopes one-third of Porsche's annual Chinese sales will be sports cars, but cultivating a generation of Chinese enthusiasts for its small, high-powered speedsters "won't happen overnight."
Still, such moves can go only so far, some Porsche sports car enthusiasts say. "Today a Porsche customer is much more likely to be a soccer mom driving a Cayenne who has no understanding of what the 911 is or was, and the people who believe in the Porsche mystique—they are fewer and fewer," said Peter De Lorenzo, a former automotive advertising executive and Porsche owner who publishes the blog Autoextremist.com.
He calls the company's efforts to court both factions of customers "a delicate balancing act." But at some point, he adds, "Porsche and its [Volkswagen] overlords are going to have to make a conscious choice between more volume and profit and retaining the essence of the brand."
Mr. Müller says growing sales and profit from its nontraditional lineup are what allows it to invest in new, ever-costlier sports-car innovations—and models.
So does close cooperation with Volkswagen. Even before the takeover, the Cayenne shared the same underpinnings as VW's Touareg and is partially built at the same Slovakian plant. The coming Macan SUV will share the same platform as Audi's Q5 SUV. The car makers originally estimated they could save some €700 million annually in costs by further integration. Mr. Müller said potential savings now are more likely to reach €1 billion. "We've had about 400 working projects together," he said.
Case in point for the business model, he says, is Porsche's new 918 Spyder, an $845,000 plug-in hybrid supercar that goes into production in September. Only 918 of the limited-series cars will be produced, and more than half have already been ordered. Its technologies—such as a hybrid power-delivery system that can rocket the car to top speeds of 211 miles an hour—eventually will find their way into the 911 and other models. In another nod to Porsche purists, it also plans to build a more powerful and lightweight version of its Cayman, called the GT3, he said.
"As long as we're successful in satisfying both the purists and those who want a comfortable but sporty car they can take shopping or to the bakery," he said, "then I think we'll be fine."
Is Porsche Still a Sports Car Maker?
As SUVs Outsell Speedsters, Luxury Brand Hopes Le Mans Will Keep Flame Alive
By VANESSA FUHRMANS
LEIPZIG, Germany—As Porsche maneuvers deeper into the markets for SUVs and sedans, it is racing to remind a new generation of drivers what gave the brand its original mystique—speed.
The brand has unnerved purists in recent years, first with the launch of its hulking Cayenne sport-utility vehicle, then a four-door sedan called the Panamera. Though the expansion has boosted the Volkswagen AG-owned car maker's sales by nearly 50% over the past four years, the Cayenne and Panamera made up roughly three-quarters of its 143,000 vehicle sales last year.
Next year, Porsche takes yet another big step from its sports-car roots with a new compact SUV. Chief Executive Matthias Müller says it could add up to 75,000 to its annual sales—further eclipsing Porsche's legendary 911, Boxster roadster and its hard-topped sibling, the Cayman. The company also is weighing developing a smaller version of the Panamera.
"If the sports cars get drowned out, they risk killing the golden goose," says Mark Ritson, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Melbourne's business school who has consulted for luxury brands. A happy Cayenne owner, Mr. Ritson counts himself as one of the thousands of decidedly nonsports-car drivers Porsche has lured with its model expansion. But the powerful SUV "is so far from a [911] Carrera, it is unbelievable," he adds. "It is a big, fat people-mover."
Porsche is turning to measures unusual for a car maker known for its minimalist marketing efforts to keep that adrenaline-pumping connection alive. It is returning to the 24 hours of Le Mans race next year and building "experience" centers in Shanghai, Atlanta and Los Angeles aimed at cultivating sports-car aficionados with on- and off-road test tracks and driving courses. It also has stepped up Porsche roadshow events.
"I'm convinced we have to do something to keep our brand image high, and these kinds of measures are helping do that," said Mr. Müller in a recent interview at the company's Stuttgart headquarters.
A longtime veteran of German luxury-car maker Audi and its parent Volkswagen, which completed a protracted takeover of Porsche last year, Mr. Muller has implemented many of the moves since becoming CEO in late 2010.
Porsche's efforts underscore the tricky balancing act niche car makers face in leveraging their brands to fuel growth and finance ever-costlier technologies without diluting them in the process. Even as it pushes toward a target of 200,000 cars in annual sales by 2018, every Porsche that rolls off the company's German assembly lines is custom-built to each buyer's wishes, down to the stitching of its leather interior.
The hefty premium its customers pay for that cachet has translated into some of the best profitability in the auto business. In 2012, Porsche's operating profit climbed 19% to €2.44 billion ($3.14 billion), a 17.6% return on its €13.9 billion in revenue. In contrast, operating margin at Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz car business last year was 7.1%, and it was 5.2% at General Motors Co .
On a recent drizzle-filled morning in Leipzig, where Porsche already runs on- and off-road test track and offers driving courses, sports car novices and aficionados alike got a taste of the racing and handling prowess the auto maker's lithe speed demons are known for. Half a dozen Porsche 911s zipped around the slippery Formula 1-grade test track, as some of the company's 300 racing instructors worldwide rode shotgun and coached their student drivers through the hairpin curves at top speeds.
"Ok, so that's what this car can really do," said Stephen Smith, a Canadian hotel owner who'd travelled to Porsche's Leipzig track to test his sports-car driving mettle and pick up a custom ordered 911. As he pulled in for a pit stop, he let out a big breath of air and laughed: "It's definitely a great marketing tool." More than 30,000 Porsche drivers and would-be customers took part in such driving events last year, and the brand expects to woo even more with the new centers in China and the U.S.
Porsche's speedy rise in China has made its efforts all the more challenging. Within a decade, China has become the German car maker's second-biggest market behind the U.S., thanks to the Cayenne's runaway success. Yet barely 7% of its sales there are for its sporty two-seaters.
Many wealthy Chinese prefer being chauffeured and riding in a plush back seat. Though more Chinese—especially the affluent young—are getting behind the wheel themselves, the country's sports-car culture is still in its infant stages, held back in part by its often poor roads and congested city traffic.
In response, Porsche is directing much of its sports-car profile-raising efforts there. Its Shanghai experience center, which opens early next year, is being built next to the city's nine-year-old Formula One racing circuit to draw on its crowds. In addition to sponsoring driving schools and roadshows, it also is organizing a growing number of professional and Porsche customer races around the country.
Ultimately, says Porsche's Mr. Müller, he hopes one-third of Porsche's annual Chinese sales will be sports cars, but cultivating a generation of Chinese enthusiasts for its small, high-powered speedsters "won't happen overnight."
Still, such moves can go only so far, some Porsche sports car enthusiasts say. "Today a Porsche customer is much more likely to be a soccer mom driving a Cayenne who has no understanding of what the 911 is or was, and the people who believe in the Porsche mystique—they are fewer and fewer," said Peter De Lorenzo, a former automotive advertising executive and Porsche owner who publishes the blog Autoextremist.com.
He calls the company's efforts to court both factions of customers "a delicate balancing act." But at some point, he adds, "Porsche and its [Volkswagen] overlords are going to have to make a conscious choice between more volume and profit and retaining the essence of the brand."
Mr. Müller says growing sales and profit from its nontraditional lineup are what allows it to invest in new, ever-costlier sports-car innovations—and models.
So does close cooperation with Volkswagen. Even before the takeover, the Cayenne shared the same underpinnings as VW's Touareg and is partially built at the same Slovakian plant. The coming Macan SUV will share the same platform as Audi's Q5 SUV. The car makers originally estimated they could save some €700 million annually in costs by further integration. Mr. Müller said potential savings now are more likely to reach €1 billion. "We've had about 400 working projects together," he said.
Case in point for the business model, he says, is Porsche's new 918 Spyder, an $845,000 plug-in hybrid supercar that goes into production in September. Only 918 of the limited-series cars will be produced, and more than half have already been ordered. Its technologies—such as a hybrid power-delivery system that can rocket the car to top speeds of 211 miles an hour—eventually will find their way into the 911 and other models. In another nod to Porsche purists, it also plans to build a more powerful and lightweight version of its Cayman, called the GT3, he said.
"As long as we're successful in satisfying both the purists and those who want a comfortable but sporty car they can take shopping or to the bakery," he said, "then I think we'll be fine."
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05-30-2013, 12:28 AM
#8
Hate to be a downer, but it's not gonna happen. I don't think the author of that piece is very knowledgable about the sports cars and there is some sort of error in that line about a Cayman called a GT3. That name is reserved for the 991 based car and is already announced. There will be a 991 based GT3 RS too. A bit later in the 981 life cycle there will be some special Boxsters and Caymans to boost sales when they start to lag. There will likely be some higher performance Cayman like the 987 R later in the cycle but it will be below the Carrera S in performance. I'm just saying this based on Porsche history and they tend to be pretty predicable. The Cayman will never be allowed to challenge the 911. No one will be happier than me if I am wrong and I'd be first in line with a deposit. just don't think it will happen.
Last edited by zedcat; 05-30-2013 at 12:31 AM. Reason: spelling
05-30-2013, 01:33 AM
#9
Hate to be a downer, but it's not gonna happen. I don't think the author of that piece is very knowledgable about the sports cars and there is some sort of error in that line about a Cayman called a GT3. That name is reserved for the 991 based car and is already announced. There will be a 991 based GT3 RS too. A bit later in the 981 life cycle there will be some special Boxsters and Caymans to boost sales when they start to lag. There will likely be some higher performance Cayman like the 987 R later in the cycle but it will be below the Carrera S in performance. I'm just saying this based on Porsche history and they tend to be pretty predicable. The Cayman will never be allowed to challenge the 911. No one will be happier than me if I am wrong and I'd be first in line with a deposit. just don't think it will happen.
05-30-2013, 07:03 AM
#10
I think a logical step for a new "R" would be to simply use the stock 350 hp 3.4 L 991 non S engine and add aero kit and suspension mods.
05-30-2013, 08:25 AM
#11
Rennlist Member
New GT3s (991 onwards) will keep getting larger/heavier and well into GT-car territory. I could potentially see how Boxsters/Caymans are slowly allowed to cover more and more of the sports car space at Porsche.
The 981 Boxster is stunning. And isn't the 981S 3.4L the same engine that they put in the base 991 now? I don't think this has ever happened before so could be a sign of a trend in the right direction.
I (and obviously a lot of others) would be putting an order for a Cayman GT3 RS the moment it gets announced. It would probably be the only new GT3 for which I'd consider selling my 6GT3.
Oh, and Edmunds, forget the centerlocks.
The 981 Boxster is stunning. And isn't the 981S 3.4L the same engine that they put in the base 991 now? I don't think this has ever happened before so could be a sign of a trend in the right direction.
I (and obviously a lot of others) would be putting an order for a Cayman GT3 RS the moment it gets announced. It would probably be the only new GT3 for which I'd consider selling my 6GT3.
Oh, and Edmunds, forget the centerlocks.
