New Porsche 911 uncovered

Wow - breathtakin ... hang on a minute - it looks just like every other 911 ever made!!!

Imagine being a Porsche Designer. You spend years at university getting your degree in advance automotive design and come out brimming with fresh ideas and dreams. You join Porsche and discover that your future career as a Porsche Designer only consists of tracing round lines, colouring in, and rubbing out. Surely the most boring design job in the world. Or the laziest!!

By Dame_Edna on 25 July, 2011, 8:24pm

Lights in the bumper?

Never could see the point in that, some designer is laughing all the way to the bank though, common sense anyone?

By CarlyWarly on 26 July, 2011, 7:10am

Leave Porsche Alone

Cant you see how busy they have been, they have added a rear wiper, no one has mentioned that ;)

By Shaun34 on 26 July, 2011, 9:02am

Rear wiper...

No sportscars have rear wipers! Come on Porsche...or VW :-/

By thors on 26 July, 2011, 9:35am

gee a porsche designer must have the easiest job in the world. every 6 years slightly change a tail-light and front-bumper!!!

By EK1000 on 26 July, 2011, 10:10am

Subtle... don't faff with a winning formula

I agree the changes are uber subtle.

The problem (imo) is that whilst the 911 is the jewel in Porsche's crown, it's also their nemesis: they have this massive following of highly opinionated wealthy types who buy their cars year on year, this same following dismiss anything other than the 2+2 rear engine configuration that is the 911, despite the mid engined Cayman and front engined Panamera being awesome cars.

The 911 will never change its shape or config, Porsche know that their 911 is their most profitable car and that radical change would upset their devout followers resulting in Porsche suicide, you're either a 911 lover or you're not. In my view, a great shame as I think the Cayman needs more development and could do with loads more power from a 911 lump, but that will never happen...

By ius101 on 26 July, 2011, 11:34am

Porsche does a BMW

I am genuinely disappointed. About half a year back, when I first saw the 918 Spyder and RSR photos, I was certain that it would spearhead a radical and aggressive design language for Posrche, injecting life into the rather plain 911 silhouette, the bland nose of the Boxster/Cayman and the ungainly profile of the Panamera. I see nothing remotely radical in this 'new' 911 or any of the mules of the Boxster or Cayman.

BMW are good at this, too. They absolutely gobsmacked us with the CS concept in 2007 and then killed the design with an increasingly bland and line of cars. The 7 suffers from a huge nose and squinty headlamps, the 5 from a permenant sneer and the 6, and askew front section. Oddly, both brands seem to have saved their design kudos for theri SUVs - the X6 and the facelfited Cayenne look much better proportioned and more handsome than their juniors.

The 911 now looks more gawky; the added length and wider mouth do not help. If they could have made it more compact, maybe lightened the chassis and thrown out unnecessary luxuries it may have have worked. Lets see how it turns out - maybe it will grow on us like previous Porsches have.

P.S. for those who assume the tail and nose of the mule shown are for real, wake up - the lamps are covered with stickers in a completely different angle from the actual thing - note the joint in the rear wing actually passes through the rear lamp.

By Varun on 26 July, 2011, 12:54pm

think they don't want to alienate their loyal 911 fans. pretty sure as its german that most of the investment is under the bonnet at the back. they should ideally put the 911 into the history books and only use the 911 as a benchmark to showcase their latest performance engines in small limited one off batches. when the design is basically the same as before and as before that then i hardly think the next few generations will be any different. one for the history books i think and lets see a 911 replacement called 912....oooops.... in case that turns out to look like a 911 !!

By corsamani on 26 July, 2011, 1:48pm

They know their audience

Porsche know that the current 911 drivers don't want much. They need another 10% more power (about an additional average of 30-40bhp across the range) and the same driving dynamics. By the same token, those who have always dreamed of owning a 911 (there are some people out there) will not have their dreams suddenly shattered by the release of something that doesn't have the history and classic shape.

In addition, proud owners of the current 911 (997) will be smiling to themselves as the value of their investment is protected by the similarity between the current and new models.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, drive one, please. Then you'll know why they don't mess with a classic!

By courtthree on 26 July, 2011, 2:03pm

Those horizontal LEDs shown in the last photo above the ventilating vanes are unfortunately and accidentally shown to be misplaced when compared to the car ahead of the Porsche. Had the positions of the two vehicles been reversed you would not have been able to observe the LEDs on the Porsche, which raises the question: "then, what's the point ?"

By jgvpc on 26 July, 2011, 4:54pm

xes825

Why does Porsche even bother. As ugly as all the others.

By davidbigland on 28 July, 2011, 12:17am