Porsche’s secret coupé has emerged from the murky shadows of the company’s Weissach test track in Germany, revealing one of the most eagerly awaited cars of 2005 up close for the first time. This new model will, we understand from inside sources, be pitched as an out-and-out driver’s car, more focused than both the 911 and Boxster.
Not only does it carry a new name, but the C7S (seen here in our computer-generated image, below) also gets a unique 300bhp engine and a chassis honed at the Nürburgring circuit by ex-rally ace Walter Rohrl. We also understand that this coupé will lap the legendary German circuit faster than the new 911.
Although it might be regarded as heresy by hardcore Porsche enthusiasts, the C7S combines the best of the 911 and Boxster: the rigidity (and all that means for handling) of the 911 coupé and the weight distribution of the soft-top Boxster’s mid-mounted engine and transmission.
Autocar is so confident that the C7S will be one of the greatest Porsches of all time, we hope to get our hands on one of the first examples off the production line. Our letter of intent to buy has already been submitted to a leading UK Porsche dealer, which says it can deliver a car before the end of 2005.
These exclusive scoop photographs, taken as the C7S hit public roads for the first time, expose the curvaceous appearance the new two-seater will carry into production, following a planned public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in mid-September.
The first production version of the Porsche C7S will cost £50,000 – £8,000 less than the entry-level 911 Carrera – and will be powered by a new 3.4-litre 300bhp version of the classic flat-six engine. This pitches it exactly between the Boxster’s 276bhp 3.2-litre and the 321bhp 3.6-litre 911 unit.
Autocar has learnt from a senior Porsche official that the company is already working on a lightweight Club Sport version of the C7S. However, a turbocharged model is being firmly ruled out at this point. The fact that this car is called a C7S suggests that a slightly cheaper model is probably at the planning stage already. Eventually, a cheaper, lower-power 3.2-litre C7 could be launched. It makes sense, though, to launch the most agile and capable version of the new coupé family first, especially as this car has to establish itself as the purest driver’s car in the four-model line-up.
Although the C7S shares its mid-engined understructure with the Boxster, Porsche engineers have made significant changes to allow the adoption of a fixed roof and liftback-style rear screen. Porsche designers have provided the C7S with a voluptuous shape and uniquely styled rear wings, but also included a number of classic styling cues from the 911, not least its tightly curved roof. Cost concerns ruled out a complete re-skin of the Boxster for the C7S, so the two cars share bonnet, front wings and doors. Subtle styling changes, such as uniquely shaped bumpers and chunkier side sills, ensure some differentiation between the two, but the major difference is the roof structure and small rear windows behind the doors – taped over in these spy pictures.There’s no news yet on whether the car will share its dashboard with either the cheaper Boxster or the more expensively finished 911.
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