Porsche’s upcoming V10-powered Carrera GT will be launched next year. It will be a supercar for the super-rich.
Porsche’s upcoming V10-powered Carrera GT will be launched next year. It will be a supercar for the super-rich.
The German manufacturer says the two-seater (featured as a concpet car in the following pictures) will be priced between R3,5 million and R4 million, almost five times more expensive than the 911 Carrera. The top of the range 911 Carrera sells for just over R1 million in South Africa.
Porsche claims the mid-engined Carrera GT sports 5,5 litres of displacement, a 600 Nm torque and 416 kW. Porsche says it will have a top speed of more than 330 km/h and will move from 0 to 100 km/h in a projected 4,0 seconds. This means it could be the fastest road-going Porsche of all time.
It also features a race chassis with two double wishbone axles. It is designed for agile performance, superior handling and high safety even in extreme situations.
Porsche has chosen Leipzig as the production location. When the model is launched on the market in the second half of 2003, around 1 000 left-hand drive units of the future high-performance sports car will roll off the conveyor belt.
The Carrera GT will be manufactured in the same plant that began producing the Cayenne this year. The planned output is two to three vehicles per day. Development work on the Carrera GT will be performed in the Research and Development Centre in Weissach until it is ready to go into production.
Porsche has decided to produce the new car’s V10 naturally-aspirated engines in the main factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. All the other 6- and 8-cylinder engines for the 911, Boxster and Cayenne model ranges are already constructed here.
"With the Carrera GT, we hope to consolidate further both our expertise and our leading position in the sports car segment. Thanks to this innovative model, our previous corporate growth rate will climb to an interim peak.
“Our Leipzig plant, complete with run-in and test track, provides optimal conditions for production and the necessary test drives," said chairman of the Board of Management, Dr Wendelin Wiedeking.
The vehicle is based on Porsche’s 2000 Le Mans racer. It uses a lightweight carbon fibre monocoque and aluminum frame to keep weight down and contribute to the expected high performance levels.
Changes from the concept car are few. In the biggest departure, the designers have added a sturdy targa-style roof with removable aluminum roof panels designed to stow in the Carrera GT’s nose section.
In other changes, the fog lamps have been integrated into the headlights, and there’s a more steeply angled windshield. Others involve mirror and door handle placement, smaller side air ducts, clear taillight lenses, and a wider and taller retractable rear wing.
So, would you chose the Carrera GT or the Bugatti Veyron?
