Porsche Industry News Cars

The Porsche 911 is currently in its eighth generation, internally dubbed the 992. The current generation debuted in 2019, with the 911 Turbo debuting in March 2020, and as always, followed the philosophy “evolution, not revolution”. Fast-forward to the end of 2021 and we have spy footage, which shows an updated version of the 992 Turbo testing in the snow. Here’s what we see.

Porsche is a car manufacturer that prides itself not only with first-class engineering, but also exclusivity. Porsche Exclusive Manifaktur has recognized the increased demand for custom colors, in recent years and has introduced the new Paint to Sample and Paint to Sample Plus options. After Porsche’s Sonderwunsch program, this is the next step in exclusivity for the German carmaker.

If there’s one brand that’s catapulted EV ambitions within the Volkswagen Group, it has to be Porsche. While Audi may have been the first to bring their e-Tron to market, it wasn’t until the Taycan came along that several brands within the VW Group started making the shift to electric mobility.

It’s safe to say that Porsche has a version of the 911 for everyone. Currently, there are 21 versions of the iconic rear-engine sports car available, and that’s before we get to the special editions like 911 Speedster or anything Porsche can cook up for you, through their “Sondewunsch” program. But apparently, this isn’t enough and Porsche is coming up with more special versions – three of them to be exact – and here’s what we know about them.

In a world where crossovers and SUVs reign supreme, it is no surprise that the Porsche Cayenne and Macan continue to be the brand’s best-sellers. For the rest of Porsche’s model lineup though, the all-electric Taycan sits comfortably in third, making it the best-selling non-SUV Porsche so far this year.

Porshe has been obsessed with innovation, or needlessly reinventing the wheel, depending on how you look at it for decades. From stubbornly making the engine work in the back of the car to making an electric sedan that weighs well over two tons handle like a dream. As a result of this meticulousness, Porsche produces some of the greatest sports cars in the world. Building off this, the German sports car manufacturer is back at it again with their 3D-printed bucket seats.

We’ve come a long way from the original idea that the 2021 Porsche Macan would only be offered with an all-electric powertrain. That was the story in 2019, which quickly turned into word that the next-gen Macan would be all-electric but would be sold alongside the current Macan– something we called “Porsche’s dual-Macan strategy.” Now, it seems there’s even more to the story, and you might not like what you’re about to read.

Porsche’s sports car lineup is quite diverse, having numerous high-performance models based on both the 911 and 718. That said, the German carmaker currently doesn’t have a proper flagship model. Previously that role was filled by the hybrid 918, but its production was ended back in 2015. Of course, Porsche brought back the 911 GT2 RS, which was based on the 991 and they even did a homage to the 935 Moby Dick, based on that GT2 RS. With this in mind, we’ve been getting mixed reports about a potential “GT1 successor,” some of which are quite interesting.

We have been following this story (Bugatti-Rimac merger) for a while now at TopSpeed and the day has finally come. Porsche and Rimac , the Croatian EV performance automaker, have agreed to form a joint venture that will include Volkswagen’s high-performance marque; Bugatti .

Having the ability to customize your car brings a special degree of exclusivity to one’s ownership experience. Porsche is not new to the car customization scene, but in recent years, the company has limited itself to simply giving us limited versions of their cars. That’s not to say they are bad, on the contrary, actually, but bespoke features were left in the past.

As if the world hasn’t been turned upside down as it is, we’re now receiving word that Porsche is actually developing a pickup truck through its newly announced partnership with Ford. This pickup truck will actually be positioned in the lower range of Porsche’s offerings and is expected to slot somewhere below the Macan – and you thought 2021 couldn’t get any worse.

Concept cars are tricky to digest. On one hand, they delight the eyes as they preview a carmaker’s (often spectacular) path for the future and on the other, they most often than not leave us disappointed at their lack of fruition. Most concept cars do not get turned into road-going cars. Sadly, that is the case of the Porsche Renndienst minivan. And the reason is simpler than you would imagine.

Porsche has raised its ownership stake in Rimac, going from owning a minority share of 15.5 percent to 24 percent. The deal cost Porsche €70 million, or around $83.2 million based on current exchange rates. This is the third time the German automaker has invested in its Croatian company. Back in 2018, Porsche secured a 10 percent minority stake in Rimac before that share grew to 15.5 percent in 2019. Other automakers have also bought into Rimac, specifically Hyundai and Kia. The two Korean brands invested €80 million, or around $95.1 million, as part of a technical partnership that would give birth to a pair of high-performance electric vehicles.

The Porsche 911 Turbo is arguably one of the most iconic cars in history. A car of that stature doesn’t just stay a car; its name lives on in other ways like, say, a limited-edition sneaker line that comes courtesy of Porsche’s partnership with sports apparel company PUMA.

The two German brands are teaming up to create this line of special edition shoes to celebrate the legend of the 911 Turbo. Only 500 pairs of shoes will be created across the entire size range, and if you’re looking to score a pair, you best be quick about it. The range will launch on November 17, 2020, and if it’s as hyped as we think it is, those 500 pairs will be gone faster than the 992-generation 911 Turbo can hit a quarter-mile. That’s 10.1 seconds at 137 mph, by the way.

Porsche recently unveiled several concept cars that it has kept out of sight over the last 15 years. Among them, there’s the Vision Renndienst, an all-electric van that pays tribute to the old vans that Porsche used as support vehicles for its racing program back in the 1950s and 1960s. They were mainly first-generation Volkswagen Microbus vans, usually painted red and labeled "renndienst," which is German for "racing service." The van concept looks surprisingly hot, and given that Porsche already built something similar in the past, maybe it’s time Stuttgart rolls out a production van. Of the high-performance variety, of course.

Porsche just published "Porsche Unseen," a book that showcases design studies and never-before-seen concept cars from 2005 to 2019. The release unveils a few spectacular designs, including the 919 Street, a road-legal version of the incredible 919 Hybrid race car. But apparently the 919 Street wasn’t Porsche only idea for a streetable hypercar. Porsche also envisioned the Vision 920, a Le Mans racer for the road, also described as its "most extreme vision of a super sports car."