Report: Porsche thinking of successor to 550 roadster

Most of us are familiar with the Porsche 550, the car that famous actor James Dean crashed and died in. It is perhaps one of the most iconic cars in history not because of the latter, but because of influence it had on Zuffenhausen’s brand. Over the years, we’ve seen a huge influx of replicas hitting the market. But now, those replicas may be rendered obsolete because Porsche themselves are deciding whether to introduce a successor to the legendary 550.

This news comes shortly after Porsche announced that it will be introducing a 928 successor, potentially called the 929. So this rumor probably shouldn’t be taken lightly since Porsche is hard at work to expand their lineup.

Even Porsche’s CEO, Matthias Muller, said himself that he loves the idea of reintroducing the roadster to the market with retro cues.

“I can imagine that such a modern version of the famous James Dean Porsche would be well received by our customers,” said Muller in an interview.

Additionally, if you factor in that Volkswagen, Porsche’s partner in crime, unveiled their Roadster concept a couple years ago with its potential of reaching production and not to mention there already exists a platform in which the 550 can be based—the Boxster—a 550 Roadster isn’t exactly an impossibility. And with companies these days looking into platform sharing to cut costs and enable an influx of new models, well you can put two and two together. We can only keep our fingers crossed until Porsche gives us the official word.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: AutoWeek