Autocar November 28, 2018

THREE GREAT BRANDS mark their 70th anniversaries this year: Land Rover, Porsche and Lotus. We celebrate all three this week, each marque being the author of several key chapters in the history of the motor car. Like all great car makers, they are not standing still, either. After revelations last week of an incredible new Lotus hypercar leading the next era of models (at last), this week Land Rover and Porsche launch all-new versions of their own superstars, the Evoque and 911. Intriguingly, Land Rover has taken a leaf out of the 911’s book in changing only very subtly the styling and proportions of the Evoque between generations. While others might lament it as ‘samey’, this iterative evolution is instead a sign of huge confidence. Evoque sales have never dropped below smash-hit levels…

“Sport Chrono Package provides the new 911 Carrera 4S with a 0-62mph time of just 3.4sec” OFFICIAL PICTURES Porsche has unveiled the eighth-generation 911, revealing a familiar shape and some evolutionary styling – but with a heavily revised range of six-cylinder turbo petrol engines that are more powerful than before. The new 911 is available to order now in Carrera S and 4S forms equipped with a PDK gearbox, priced from £93,110 and £98,418 respectively. UK deliveries start next March. The new Porsche is one of the biggest attractions at this week’s Los Angeles motor show. It adopts revised horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engines that feature a new fuel injection process for added combustion efficiency among a number of significant upgrades aimed at increasing its competitiveness against two-door rivals. The turbocharged 3.0-litre units, which continue…

THREE GREAT BRANDS mark their 70th anniversaries this year: Land Rover, Porsche and Lotus. We celebrate all three this week, each marque being the author of several key chapters in the history of the motor car. Like all great car makers, they are not standing still, either. After revelations last week of an incredible new Lotus hypercar leading the next era of models (at last), this week Land Rover and Porsche launch all-new versions of their own superstars, the Evoque and 911. Intriguingly, Land Rover has taken a leaf out of the 911’s book in changing only very subtly the styling and proportions of the Evoque between generations. While others might lament it as ‘samey’, this iterative evolution is instead a sign of huge confidence. Evoque sales have never dropped…

Now that the 991-generation 911 has been revealed, attention is turning to the hardcore GT3 variant, which we’ve seen testing on public roads with minimal disguise. The GT3 is expected to consign an illustrious line of race-bred naturally aspirated performance engines to the history books, with sources close to Porsche suggesting it will adopt a turbocharged powerplant. Although not yet officially confirmed, it would bring the 2020 911 GT3 and its more focused GT3 RS sibling into line with the rest of the range. Both are expected to use a twin-turbo 3.8-litre flat six shared with the upcoming 911 Turbo. Power will be brought down from around 570bhp in the Turbo to somewhere in the region of 513bhp for the GT3. That’s a 20bhp increase over today’s naturally aspirated 911 GT3, but…

“Sport Chrono Package provides the new 911 Carrera 4S with a 0-62mph time of just 3.4sec” OFFICIAL PICTURES Porsche has unveiled the eighth-generation 911, revealing a familiar shape and some evolutionary styling – but with a heavily revised range of six-cylinder turbo petrol engines that are more powerful than before. The new 911 is available to order now in Carrera S and 4S forms equipped with a PDK gearbox, priced from £93,110 and £98,418 respectively. UK deliveries start next March. The new Porsche is one of the biggest attractions at this week’s Los Angeles motor show. It adopts revised horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engines that feature a new fuel injection process for added combustion efficiency among a number of significant upgrades aimed at increasing its competitiveness against two-door rivals. The…

Anyone expecting the new 911 to be a radical departure was always going to be deluding themselves, and for two reasons. One: when you’re tasked with replacing the most iconic and successful sports car in history, a conservative approach is preferable. Two: although this is a new generation of 911, it follows the long-time 911 tradition where generations come in pairs. So just as the 993 generation was a heavily developed 964, and the 997 an optimised 996, so the 992 is derived from and informed by the 991. So if you want a genuinely all-new 911 with zero design crossover, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to wait until around 2025, when the next 911 will be as revolutionary as was the 964 in 1989, the 996 in 1998 and the…