1976 Porsche 914 Base Coupe 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Some intriguing showstoppers from Auto China 2024

“Electric” may be the most appropriate word to describe the atmosphere at the recent Beijing motor show, now considered to be one of the worldÂ’s largest automobile exhibitions. ChinaÂ’s vision of the electric mobility future is on full display during the ten-day event, which ends this weekend. Organizers estimated that 117 new global and China-domestic models would debut in Beijing. In fact, about 30 foreign brands had stands, a turnout that hasnÂ’t been seen at auto shows since before the pandemic. The South Koreans and the Japanese came, and from Germany, representatives making the case for their brands included CEO Oliver Blume of Volkswagen Group, Oliver Zipse of BMW Group and Ola Kallenius of Mercedes-Benz Group. A few of the models would be powered by gasoline—by ICE, or internal combustion engines—but the vibe was clear: electrics are it. According to to show officials, Beijing hosted a total of 278 electric and plug-in hybrid models on display. After digesting most of the reveals unveiled during the show, weÂ’ve parsed a list to a select few of the more interesting models. Here it is, in no particular order: BYD Ocean-M concept BYD has launched off-roaders, SUVs and sedans in its global assault on the car market — and added a hot hatch concept at Auto China. The Ocean-M (above) is a Volkswagen Golf-sized five-door hatchback, meaning itÂ’s likely that BYD will pitch it as a rival for the Volkswagen ID.3 GTX. The show car has sporty design, rises sharply towards the rear window, and sharp surfacing at the front and along the flanks. The show car has a huge rear wing, aero diffuser and side blades.   Denza Z9GT BYDÂ’s luxury brand, Denza, a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz, showed the Z9 GT, a massive wagon carrying three electric motors putting out a stunning 952 horsepower. The EV weighs an extraordinary 6,338 pounds, almost 440 pounds more than a Rolls-Royce Cullinan. BYD's design boss is a German -- Wolfgang Egger, who previously worked for Alfa Romeo and Audi. Lamborghini Urus SE The Volkswagen subsidiary brought a bit of Italian sex appeal to Beijing in the form of “super” luxury SUV that received its first public premiere in China. The plug-in hybrid Uris SE SUV gets nearly 800 horsepower as well as a series of visual and technology updates inside and out.

Mysterious Porsche 911 Cabriolet spied, could be GTS

While Porsche's designers can jokingly be accused of being some of the laziest in the industry due to the incremental changes to the 911's iconic design, no such charge can be leveled against the engineers and product planning folks. That's because it seems like each week arrives with news of a new variation of the marque's iconic rear-engined sports car. So, for this week, we've brought you images of what we think is the new 911 GTS Cabriolet, undergoing testing in a thawing winter wonderland.
Now, what is it that gives this 911 away, compared to standard convertible? Well, the big thing is the new offset, center-mounted exhausts. Borrowing a page from the last Volkswagen R32, these exhaust tips are unlike anything we've seen from Porsche. Only the GT3 wears center pipes, and unlike these spy photos, the twin pipes on the track-minded 911 are stacked neatly alongside each other. The other change spotted by our spies is the set of active-aerodynamic flaps in the front bumper, which can automatically channel air toward the brakes for increased cooling, or close off to reduce drag, as needed.
Those exhausts are a pretty big design detail, and so far as we can tell is the only differentiator between the other 911s in this car's posse. Our spies speculate that this could be a 911 Speedster, but point out that both the canvas roof and windshield remain unchanged - the rumored Speedster model would almost certainly feature a different roof assembly along with a steeply raked windshield.

China may surpass US as Porsche's largest market this year thanks to Cayenne

China has already surpassed the United States as the world's largest automotive market, so it's no surprise that one day soon it will be the world's largest Porsche market.
In fact, that day may already be here, as the PRC's Porschephiles outbought their American counterparts in September. Porsche's Chinese dealers sold 4,344 cars last month to America's 3,607. Through all of 2014 so far, though, the US is still the larger market for the German brand.
"The U.S. performed very well this year, after a great year in 2013, but China is growing fast, thanks to the Cayenne which is our best seller there," Porsche's sales and marketing boss, Bernhard Maier, told Automotive News Europe.