Porsche Picks A Winner In Its ‘My Daily Magic’ Contest: Video

Porsche wants you to know that it’s cars are tough enough to drive every day, not just on sunny weekends. The German automaker has invested quite a bit of money in advertising to illustrate this, capped off by a recent contest from Porsche Cars North America called “My Daily Magic.” Read more

APR Creates The GTI Volkswagen Should Have

When it comes to tuning in the Volkswagen, Audi and now Porsche world, one name stands out above the rest. APR LLC, which was originally founded as “Auburn Parts and Repair” in Auburn, AL, has continued to blend performance with functionality since the shop began tuning Audi A4s in 1998. Since then, their market has expanded to include Volkswagen Seat, Skoda and Porsche, and the company now has a presence around the globe. Read more

Porsche’s Seven Speed Gearbox, Explained

Seven and eight speed gearboxes are the way of the future, since they offer up a blend of both performance and fuel economy simply not possible with five and six speed transmissions. Porsche is the first manufacturer to release a seven-speed manual transmission, and adding the seventh gear allows the automaker greater flexibility in improving the new 911’s performance while meeting ever-tightening U.S. and E.U. fuel economy requirements. Read more

Porsche Working On New High-End Sports Car

If you look at Porsche’s current product catalog, there’s a pretty big gap between the sold-out $245,000 GT2 RS (the fastest road-going Porsche ever built) and the $845,000 918 Spyder, whose performance numbers have yet to be established or verified. Porche’s head of global sales, Bernhard Maier, smells opportunity in this segment, and he recently leaked the information that Porsche is looking to develop a high-performance model that slots in between the GT2 RS and the 918 Spyder. Could it be an updated Carrera GT, perhaps? Read more

Klaus Bischoff Has The Best Job In The World

Just a guess, but Klaus Bischof probably loves his job. As Director of Porsche’s “Rolling Museum”, he spends his days saying “Ja” or “Nein” to requests from around the world to display classic Porsche racecars at festivals and events. I’d be willing to guess that he’s driven most of the classic Porsches himself, at famous racetracks around the world, just to “warm up the engine” or “get the flat spots” off the tires. Judging from the video, the man is certainly a subject expert on anything relating to Porsche and racing, and you get the feeling that Bischof could answer any Porsche related question you throw his way. I’ve been lucky enough to tour the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, so I’ve seen variants of a lot of the cars in the video. I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk past them every morning, coffee in hand, as you make your way to your desk. Enjoy almost nine minutes of classic racing Porsche porn below. Read more

Porsche Panamera Turbo S: More Horsepower Fixes Everything

Harlan Ellison, the reclusive but brilliant science fiction writer, once penned a story called “How’s The Nightlife On Cissalda?”. Like most of his work, it baffled many, offended some and amused the rest of us. I can’t possibly do the story justice here, but let’s just say the issue of appearance versus performance factors heavily into the tale. If something is so good at what it does that it touches a place in your very soul, do you really care what it looks like? That question haunts me when it comes to the Porsche Panamera. As GT cars go, the Panamera is among the best, particularly when you get to the cost-be-damned Panamera Turbo. If you routinely haul three other passengers from coast to coast at speeds that would have made Brock Yates in his prime pucker, the Panamera Turbo is perhaps the best choice for performance, comfort and handling. Even the Cadillac CTS-V doesn’t come close, particularly for rear seat passenger comfort. Sure, on a racetrack the CTS-V can hold it’s own against the Panamera Turbo, and the Caddy costs half as much as a Panamera Turbo, but the Porsche offers a level of refinement that the Caddy lacks. If you’ve got the bank account to afford either, some serious test driving was required to decide which GT sedan is the best option for you. Until now. Read more

Porsche Targets Short Term Leases To Move 911s

Selling and leasing cars is a complicated business. If you’re a luxury brand like Porsche, chances are good that you lease a lot more vehicles than you sell outright. When it comes to buying a 911, stepping up to the plate with a check that starts at $80k is a tall order. On the other hand, if you break it down into a “digestible” $1,200 per month or so, the cost seems more within reach (at least to some). Leases are good for business, because they also turn over a lot of clean, low mileage used cars, and a $65k, three year old 911 is a lot more attainable for most people. So what do you do when your three year leases decline, reducing the future population of used cars? If you’re Porsche, you find a way to restructure leases for 24 months. Read more

Porsche Builds A More Efficient 911 GT3 R Hybrid

In 2010, Porsche became the first automaker to campaign a hybrid race car in endurance racing events around the world. Their original 911 GT3 R Hybrid saw competition at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, as well as races in China and in the United States. Lessons learned from these competition outings were used to build a better 911 GT3 R Hybrid race car for 2011. In this case “better” doesn’t mean faster, but it does mean more fuel efficient. Porsche’s goal is to turn the same lap times as last year, but use less gasoline in doing so, and in endurance racing that savings can easily be the difference between winning and losing. Read more

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