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Porsche sees error of ways, next 911 GT3 to offer manual transmission

Consider this Porsche's mea culpa. After creating an uproar over selling a new 911 GT3 without a manual transmission, the automaker introduced the limited-edition, manual-equipped 911 R in Geneva. That car is just a stopgap, though. It's meant to hold 911 drivers over until the next GT3 arrives with the same six-speed manual transmission. Yes, the next-gen GT3 will get an old-fashioned six-speed manual, according to a new report from Autocar (but the GT3 RS will still be PDK-only). In fact, the same report claims Porsche will make sure that the 911 GT3 remains the car for the brand's most ardent purists. While the rest of the Porsche range moves to turbocharged engines, the GT3 will stick to its naturally aspirated guns. That comes direct from the big boss behind the GT3, Andreas Preuninger, who told the magazine this would be the case "for the foreseeable future." According to Preuninger, the only member of Porsche's GT line that will go turbocharged is the one that's been that way all along – the GT2 and GT2 RS, which we'll see next year. And yes, Preuninger's statement about limited turbocharging applies to the Cayman GT4, too, even though the model that high-performer is based on has moved to a line of turbocharged engines. When the next GT4 arrives, it'll be with a flat-six in the middle. Related Video:

Porsche's Mauer recalls the history of the 918 Spyder, hints about next-gen 911

The night before Porsche handed me the keys to its 2015 Macan to drive on both road and track, the company threw together a great dinner for the assembled media in Leipzig. Hosted in Porsche's spaceship-shaped customer delivery center in the eastern German town, I'll admit that I spent the bulk of my night grabbing hors d'oeuvres from passing waiters (they do a nice tuna sashimi), milling around a collection of historic and interesting vehicles on the top floor and gulping down Warsteiner.
In an era of mega car companies, the story of how the 918 came to be was really refreshing.
Before the evening was over, however, Porsche design chief Michael Mauer stopped by my table to exchange pleasantries and thank us all for coming out to drive the Macan. My fellow diners and I passed a pleasant half-hour or more picking the brain of the forthcoming Mauer, and somehow or another, the topic turned to Porsche's newest supercar, the 918 Spyder. In an era of mega car companies (the Volkswagen Group included) and massive development teams, the story of how the 918 came to be is really refreshing.

Are you the Porsche Pajun?

The prospect of Porsche building a smaller version of the Panamera has been an on-again, off-again proposition as the German automaker seems to go back and forth on the project. Last we heard, Porsche had pushed back the so-called Pajun (shorthand for Panamera Junior) until 2019 at the earliest, but we could be looking at it right here.
The automaker's everything-but-automotive division Porsche Design is working on a luxury condo complex called (simply enough) Porsche Design Tower. It's been three years in the making and will take at least another year or two to complete, but the gist of it is that the 57-floor building will include 132 apartments, each with its own en-suite garage in which the residents' cars will be parked thanks to giant elevators.
Porsche Design released a series of renderings showing what the property will look like once complete. Most of the renderings feature Porsches, of course - production models you can find in any of the brand's showrooms, like the one just 23 miles away in Coral Gables. But one of the renderings of the giant glass elevators shows something rather unusual.