Yahoo Finance Porsche 960 mid-engine supercar back in the spotlight
It was in 2011 that we first heard Porsche was investigating a new mid-engine supercar to fill the gap between the top 911 variants and the 918 Spyder hypercar.
Thankfully, the rumors haven’t died down in all the years since, thanks in part to senior officials sporadically making references to the car.
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The last we heard, the car, thought to be called a 960 to signify its links to Porsche’s 959 of the 1980s, would be based on a modular sports car platform Porsche is developing for the Volkswagen Group. The new platform is to underpin all next-generation Porsche sports cars, starting with a new 911, and most likely the next-generation Audi R8 and the successors to Lamborghini’s current offerings.
Launch date pushed back to 2019
According to CAR, the 960 will arrive in 2019. Porsche already has a lot on its plate with new versions of the Panamera, Cayenne and 911 all due before then, so understandably the automaker is in no rush.
Power is still said to come from a flat-8 engine displacing 3.9 liters and turbocharged to the tune of 650 horsepower or thereabouts. Interestingly, all-wheel drive is said to be standard with rear-wheel drive reserved for more hardcore models.
When it finally arrives, expect the 960 to priced well north of $200k. We’ve previously heard pricing will start somewhere around $360k, making the car more of a rival to the Lamborghini Aventador and Ferrari [NYSE:RACE] F12 Berlinetta. Note, McLaren is thought to be readying its own mid-engine supercar to do battle in this segment.
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