2002 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe 2-door 3.6l on 2040-cars

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Porsche 911 spied looking like a Porsche 911

The 2017 Porsche 911 hasn't gone on sale yet and spy photographers have already snapped an early mule for the next-generation 911 due in calendar year 2018. It might be difficult to make out underneath the cobbled-together bodywork of the previous 991-version 911, but this one has a wider rear end that could be hiding the plug-in hybrid powertrain expected to come with the next big model update, perhaps codenamed 992. The strange white plug would be where owners plug the coupe in, according to this patent drawing. There have been rumors of a hybrid 911 coming for more than a year now, with some suspicious bits in a mule seen last year, and early prognostications being that Porsche is lining up the powertrain for the 911 Turbo to produce somewhere around 720 horsepower. That would make sense as the first stop for the learning and components of the 918 Spyder to trickle down to the 911 range. If Porsche migrated the 918's 156-hp electric motor unchanged into the 560-hp 911 Turbo, you're looking at a 716-hp monster that accelerates even more quickly. A hybrid 911 Carrera model would sit above the standard turbocharged engines. Elsewhere, the 992 model will come on the current MMB platform, and the exterior will be one of evolution, naturally. Interior upgrades will include a fully digital instrument panel. Or, going off the reservation, former Porsche chairman Matthias Muller said earlier this year that, "the high-speed high-tech laboratory of the 919 Hybrid will benefit all our future vehicles" in reference to expanding the Porsche model line to seven models. At the time, Bloomberg wondered if Muller was referring to the long-rumored Ferrari competitor Porsche has debated.

$1.4B hedge fund suit against Porsche dismissed

Investors have canvassed courts in Europe and the US to repeatedly sue Porsche over its failed attempt to take over Volkswagen in 2008 (see here, and here and here), and they have repeatedly failed to win any cases. You can add another big loss to the tally, with Bloomberg reporting that the Stuttgart Regional Court has dismissed a 1.4-billion euro ($1.95B US) lawsuit, the decision explained by the court's assertion that the investors would have lost on their short bets even if Porsche hadn't misled them.
Examining the hedge funds' motives for stock purchases and the bets that VW share prices would fall, judge Carola Wittig said that the funds didn't base their decisions on the key bits of "misinformation," and instead were participating simply in "highly speculative and naked short selling," only to get caught out.
With other cases still pending, the continued streak of victories bodes well for Porsche's courtroom fortunes, since judges will expect new information to consider overturning precedent. If there is any new info, it could come from the potential criminal cases still outstanding against former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and CFO Holger Härter, who were both indicted on charges of market manipulation.

Evo rediscovers true love in the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Evo is on record as loving the Porsche 911 GT3. In fact the only time the GT3 hasn't won its Car of the Year award was when there wasn't a new one to contend for top honors, and in 2009 (when the 997.2 GT3 lost out to the Lotus Evora). By all accounts, then, Evo ought to love the new GT3 RS. Fortunately that's just what the British enthusiast's publication has gotten its hands on for this latest video. After Porsche went a bit softer with the current 911 GT3, the RS has been toughened up to greet the most hardcore of Zuffenhausen's faithful. It was revealed just a few months ago at the Geneva Motor Show, with a 4.0-liter atmospheric boxer-six driving 500 horsepower and 338 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels – exclusively through a dual-clutch transmission. That last bit might be enough to make the snobbiest of purists scoff, but it wasn't enough to keep Chris Harris from loving it. Find out what his former compatriots at Evo have to say from this first drive.