Porsche 912 1967 on 2040-cars

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Porsche planning new 911 Speedster as 550 tribute

Some look at the emergence of a new Porsche 911 and see a car. But to Porsche engineers, it might as well be a reset button. Because every time a new 911 comes out, it sets off a tidal wave of new variants to follow, including convertibles, turbos, targas, GT3s... the works.
The next down the pipeline, though, could be one of the most desirable. That, according to German publication Auto Bild, will be a new 911 Speedster. When it arrives early in 2015, the special roadster will reportedly be limited to just 550 examples in tribute to the original 550 Spyder.
It'll reportedly have hidden door handles, a chopped-down windshield and a fabric top to be used only in case of emergency, manually disappearing below a carbon-fiber cowling. All of which makes it sounds as much like a bigger version of the Boxster Spyder as a successor to the last 911 Speedster (pictured above), and that's no bad thing at all.

Porsche Macan configurator lets you build $110k crossover

Part of the idea behind the new Porsche Macan is that it's less expensive than its larger sibling, the Cayenne. But with a starting MSRP of $49,900, the base Macan S is actually $300 more expensive than the cheapest Cayenne. That, however, is just the start, as you can see from the online configurator.
As is often the case with German cars in general (Porsches especially), tick the right boxes and you'll soon be leaving that base price behind in a cloud of tire smoke. Start off with the Macan Turbo and you're looking at a base MSRP of $72,300, which is already over twenty grand more than the naturally-aspirated version. But even that soon escalates as the options pile on.
Aurum Metallic paint will set you back $3,120. 21-inch wheels, another $3,300. You'll probably want the air suspension, torque vectoring, the Sport Chrono package, adaptive cruise control and lane-change systems, and those each add over a grand to the price. A Burmester surround sound system is the single most expensive option at $4,290. And if you choose them all - and choose all the optional trim packages - you'll soon be looking at a price in excess of $110,000. That's enough to get you into a Cayenne Turbo... assuming you don't tag on all the options to that one, too.

Porsche trio seals endurance drivers' title

Fifth place. That's all it took for the Porsche team to seal the drivers' title in the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship. And that's just what they did this weekend in the 6 Hours of Bahrain. The leading lineup of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber drove the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid to the drivers' title to cap a dominant season for the Weissach team. Porsche already won the pinnacle race at Le Mans this past summer, and drove home the manufacturers' title at the penultimate round in Shanghai. The championship-winning trio of Bernhard, Hartley, and Webber won four out of the total eight rounds this season – including the races at the Nurburgring, Circuit of the Americas, Fuji, and Shanghai. That gave them 166 points in the final standings, besting the 161 achieved by the Audi team of Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler, and Benoit Treluyer, who won at Silverstone and Spa. In beating Audi to the top honors in the championship and at Le Mans, Porsche has completely locked its corporate cousins (and chief rivals) out of the winner's circle for the first time in years. Last season saw Toyota win both titles in the WEC, but Audi still won at Le Mans. Audi won both titles in the first two seasons of the championship, and the French endurance race all but three times in the past 16 years. The last time Audi was completely shut out was in 2009, when Peugeot won at Le Mans and Aston Martin took both titles in the associated Le Mans Series with its Lola-based LMP1 prototype. This latest achievement only adds to Porsche's unsurpassed sports car racing trophy cabinet. The German outfit won 12 manufacturers' and teams' titles (and another six drivers' titles) in the 1970s and 80s under the previous World Sportscar Championship. It has won at Le Mans a record 17 times, and another 18 each at Sebring and Daytona. Porsche also took the checkered flag at the Targa Florio 11 times, won the Monte Carlo rally four times, the Dakar twice, and with TAG and McLaren, won three drivers' titles, two constructors' titles, and 25 grands prix in Formula One. Related Video: Porsche works drivers win the FIA World Endurance Championship drivers' title The new champions: Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber Stuttgart.