motor

st-anger · 12-06-2004, 04:19 PM

...from the press site:

Porsche Reveals New 911 Cabriolets

Thrill of Fresh Air plus Outstanding Driving Dynamics

Stuttgart. Porsche's model offensive is continuing. Just a few months after the launch of the new 911 Carrera Coupé, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is introducing the new Cabriolet. Opting for the open-air 911, the sports car enthusiast again has the choice of either the 239 kW (325 bhp) 3.6-litre flat-six or the S-model with its 3.8-litre power unit developing 261 kW (355 bhp). As on the Coupé versions, Porsche has once again enlarged the range of standard equipment. The new Convertibles are equipped with features such as larger wheels, a wind deflector, PSM Porsche Stability Management and PCM Porsche Communication Management including Porsche Sound Package Plus (CD radio with nine loudspeakers). In the United States and Canada the 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet and Carrera S Cabriolet will be introduced in mid March. The two Cabriolets will be introduced Europe-wide on 2 April 2005.

The Cabriolets naturally come with all the excellent driving dynamics already boasted by the Coupés. Benefiting from outstanding lightweight concepts, the basic version weighs a mere 1480 kg (3263 lb) (Carrera S: 1505 kg/3319 lb), thus ranking right at the top in its market segment also in this respect, both Cabriolets weighing just 85 kilos more than their respective Coupé counterparts.

As a result of their very good power-to-weight ratio and that typical Porsche suspension, these two open-air sports cars offer exemplary agility and dynamic handling particularly in bends. The Carrera S Cabriolet comes as standard with PASM Porsche Active Suspension Management available as an option on the 3.6-litre Carrera and offering an entirely new dimension in driving dynamics.

Both models have exactly the same top speed as their Coupé counterparts – 285 km/h (177 mph) and, respectively, 293 km/h (182 mph) – thus proving their outstanding aerodynamic qualities: Both versions of the Cabriolet have a drag coefficient of 0.29, ranking right at the top versus international competition also in this respect. The 3.6-litre version of the open-air Carrera (with manual gearbox) accelerates to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds, the Carrera S Cabriolet completing this exercise even faster in 4.9 seconds.

The soft roof opens and closes fully automatically at the touch of a button in just 20 seconds, collapsing in Z-configuration within the roof compartment with the outer side of the roof facing to the top. The roof can be opened and closed while driving at a speed of up to 50 km/h.

The Euro base price of the 911 Carrera Cabriolet is 73.300 Euro, the base price of the 911 Carrera S Cabriolet is 81.900 Euro. In Germany the prices including VAT and specific national features are 85.176 Euro for the Carrera Cabriolet and 95.152 Euro for the Carrera S Cabriolet.

The 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet and Carrera S Cabriolet will be introduced to the United States and Canada at a price of $79,100 US and $115,650 CDN for the Carrera Cabriolet and $88,900 US and $129,900 CDN for the Carrera S Cabriolet.

st-anger · 12-08-2004, 01:13 PM

New turnover and profit records in the 2003/04 fiscal year

Porsche's success continues

Stuttgart. In a difficult economic climate, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany remained on its growth path in the 2003/04 fiscal year that ended on July 31. The record financial reference figures for the previous fiscal year were once again exceeded. Group turnover rose by 13.9 percent to 6.36 billion Euro. With pre-tax results up by 16.6 percent to 1.088 billion Euro, Porsche has achieved the best results in its corporate history. The Group’s surplus for the year (after-tax result) rose by 8.3 percent to 612 million Euro. At 38.80 Euro, the profit per share again significantly exceeded the previous year’s figure of 35.20 Euro.

Porsche’s earning power is reflected in an especially impressive way in its extended cash flow. This figure, which also includes all changes in provisions, increased by 19.9 percent to 1.67 billion Euro in the 2003/04 fiscal year. Net liquidity – in other words liquid funds less financial liabilities – increased by 33.6 percent to 1.82 billion Euro.

Significant growth in sales thanks to the Cayenne
In the 2003/04 fiscal year, Group sales rose by 15 percent to 76,827 units, thanks to the Cayenne, which admirably offset the lifecycle-dependent downturn in sports car sales. This sports off-road vehicle sold 39,913 units compared to 20,603 units in the previous year, in which the Cayenne was introduced successively to international markets. Sales of the 911 model line fell by 14.7 percent to 23,704 units, but the trend toward a higher-value model mix persisted. Boxster sales went down by 29.5 percent to 12,988 units. Sales of the high-performance Carrera GT sports car stood at 222 units in its first year of production.

In North America – Porsche's largest market – sales rose by eight percent to 31,356 units. All other export markets recorded even better growth rates, with an overall increase of 39.4 percent to 33,295 units. Contrary to the negative market trend, Porsche also enjoyed growth on the German market, where sales rose by 3.9 percent to 12,176 units.

Production at record levels
Including 8,862 Boxsters assembled in Finland, Porsche produced a total of 81,531 cars – an increase of 11.3 percent. This figure includes 41,149 Cayenne models, compared to 24,925 the previous year, when production of the Cayenne at the new Porsche factory in Leipzig was gradually increased. Production of the 911 stood at 26,650 units (minus 9.9 percent), while Boxster production stood at 13,462 units (minus 28.3 percent). 270 Carrera GT cars were produced.

Number of employees rises
Porsche again created a number of new jobs in the 2003/2004 fiscal year. At the end of the review year the Group employed 11,668 people, an increase of 9.1 percent from 10,699 in the previous year. The largest proportion of this increase, a total of 939 employees, was in the CTS Car Top Systems Group, which was fully consolidated for the first time in this fiscal year. The total of 7,992 employees at Porsche AG is lower than last year’s figure of 8,078.

Higher dividend
The shareholders’ general meeting to be held on January 28, 2005 in Stuttgart will be asked to approve dividend payments of 3.94 Euro per share to common-stock holders for the 2003/04 fiscal year (dividend for the previous year: 3.34 Euro) and 4.00 Euro to preferred-stock holders (dividend for the previous year: 3.40 Euro). The sum distributed as dividends on common and preferred stock will total approximately 69.5 million Euro and thus exceed last year’s figure (approximately 59 million Euro) by 17.8 percent. Nevertheless, the distribution quota of 11.4 percent is comparatively low, which allows the company to make high allocations to reserves as well as significant investments in research and development for the future.

Promising start to the current fiscal year
The company remained on its growth course in the first four months of the current 2004/05 fiscal year. According to preliminary figures for the period from August 1 to November 30, 2004, Group turnover rose to 1.98 billion Euro, an increase of 4.0 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Sales rose by 7.0 percent to 23,546 units. The 911 model line was exceptionally successful, selling 8,452 units (an increase of 18.6 percent), to which the new generation Carrera models contributed significantly. The Cayenne model line also achieved a strong increase in sales to 13,011 units (plus 15.2 percent), whereas the Boxster model line registered a fall of 46.7 percent to 1,916 units prior to the appearance of the new model generation on November 27. In the first four months of the current fiscal year production rose by 2.5 percent to 26,823 units.

Porsche has confident expectations for the 2004/05 fiscal year as whole. The new 911 and the new-generation Boxster, which is now being introduced successively to international markets, will lend additional impetus to the Porsche sports car business. Thanks to the even more attractive product program, the company is expecting renewed growth in the current fiscal year

gucom · 12-09-2004, 05:58 AM

wow that car looks really great...best-looking 911 cabrio so far IMO

TT · 12-16-2004, 01:26 PM

Some more infos about the RUF 997 posted by yg60m

German article : http://www.auto-motor-sport.de/d/71927

pics : http://www.auto-motor-sport.de/d/73177

TT · 12-19-2004, 08:41 AM

388 km/hod. in 911 Nardo record -> http://www.blick.ch/auto/artikel15602

st-anger · 12-30-2004, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by st-anger

Originally Posted by DJF1

Any news St-Anger on the rumoured 4 seater???

...right now the E2B project is deep frozen...

^...hehe, kinda ambiguous statement

...i´ve just seen pics of the E2B test mules taken near the "arctic driving center" (Michelin) located nearby the city Roveniemi ( finland )...

again, i´m NOT allowed to post any of them on JW but i´m sure they´ll appear on the net very soon - the so called "erlkönig" hunters are on the way....

´ll keep u up to date....

5vz-fe · 12-31-2004, 05:33 AM

Porsche fined U.S.$7.9 million for failing to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy limits

Washington, D.C. -The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced civil penalties against Porsche and Ferrari totalling over U.S.$9 million for failing to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) limits.

Porsche was fined U.S.$7,896,025 for not meeting CAFE requirements in the 2002 and 2003 model years, and Ferrari Maserati North America was fined U.S.$1,139,710 for non-compliance in 2003.

General Motors paid a civil penalty of U.S.$1 million to settle charges that it failed to conduct a timely recall to correct a safety defect. The problem involved windshield wiper failure in 581,344 Trailblazers, Bravadas, Envoys and Isuzu Ascenders manufactured in 2002 and 2003

st-anger · 01-01-2005, 03:20 PM

*** NEW FEATURE IN PORSCHE CENTRAL ***

:arrow: http://www.motorworld.net/forum/show...=326945#326945

vid posted 01012005:

HvS from SA´s driving the Tech Art GT Street for the Supertest at HHR and NS...

yg60m · 01-01-2005, 04:16 PM

Thanks a lot st-anger

smettie · 01-14-2005, 07:27 AM

don't know if i should post it here, but because tt told that the 'baby 911' topic should be in 'porsche news', and this is a bit similar, i thought it best fitted in here.

i just found some spy pics on http://porscheweb.kvalitne.cz/Porsche/novinky.htm , there they say this is the new boxster (i guess, don't understand the language) but the rear has a lot from a 911. but i guess, it's probably that c7s, looking like a mix of boxster and 911.

on the pics, you can see some air inlets behind the doors. should this be a turbo version maybe?

also i hope the 'boxster coupé', 'c7s' or whatever isn't really faster than a 911...
i'm a die hard 911 fan!

st-anger · 01-15-2005, 01:36 PM

*** NEW FEATURED VID ADDED ***

:arrow: link

vid posted 15012005:

Porsche GT3–RS Motorvision special track test @ Oschersleben race track...

TT · 01-15-2005, 04:36 PM

Oh yeah! Will check it out asap!

adamwich · 01-18-2005, 04:57 AM

Another spypicture of the boxster coupe!

mv · 01-19-2005, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by adamwich

Another spypicture of the boxster coupe!

According to german Auto-motor-sport it is to be called "Cayman" which sounds quite cool in my opinion...but perhaps much too similar to "Cayenne" . They claim the S-version is the first to come with a 3.2l B6 developing as much as 320hp.

http://www.auto-motor-sport.de/d/74400

gucom · 01-19-2005, 03:21 PM

according to Autocar it'll be called C7S, with a possible lower-powered non-S (so C7) version a while later... they said it'll be very sporty (so not just a boxter with a fixed roof), and it'll have 300hp...lets hope they're right...