End of the road for the Porsche 911
Porsches cites the decision on dwindling sales of the flagship sportscar as buyers favour the larger Cayenne and Panamera, especially in the important emerging market of China. “We can no longer rely on the European and North American markets,” claims Porsche spokesperson Avril Sciocco. “Asia is the future and they want large cars over there.”
Development of the all-new 998/991 model, which was due to appear next year, has been shelved and instead the current 997 shall soldier on until 2013. Instead of a final bow-out limited edition 911, Porsche shall produce an ‘Edition 911 50th’ Panamera to celebrate the end of 911 production – further proof that Porsche wants to be seen as a producer of larger cars.
However, 911 fans should not give up hope just yet. A number of parties are interested in taking over production of the iconic sports car, rather like Caterham did with the Lotus Seven. These range from US-based SharksWerks to UK-based Autofarm, and even electric-car maker, Tesla. As yet, though, Porsche has not commented on such plans.
And will this shock news affect Total 911? “Of course not,” says editor Philip Raby. “With 50 years of history, there will always be plenty to write about and, besides, I’m confident that someone out there will take over 911 production. In fact, I’m tempted to do it myself – I could easily build the cars in my garage.”
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