Report: Porsche wants to turn the horsepower war into a weight loss war

We all know that Porsche is an absolute buy-word for precision engineering and performance and thus, they know what they’re doing when it comes to building the perfect sports cars.

This of course implies that Porsche knows how to manage important specifications such as power-to-weight ratios, G-forces, cornering speeds, braking distances, et al.

But over the years, Porsche has had to rely on one big improvement in order to keep up with the competition: more power, from their legendary flat-six engines. And because Porsche is Porsche, they know there’s only so much power you can shove into the rear-end of a 911 before things get too tricky to deal with.

Their new solution: reduce weight instead of adding power. That sounds like music to our ears.

Don’t get us wrong, we love power here at egmCarTech and love mimicking Jeremy Clarkson when experiencing it. However, when it comes to nailing out a precise laptop in the name of Germany’s Prancing Horse from Zuffenhausen, there’s more to it than just power with one of the leading factors being weight. And we love lightweight cars just as much as we love powerful cars.

According to CAR, who spoke with Porsche’s Andreas Preuninger, word is that Porsche will end up making their next GT and RS models lighter rather than more powerful. Preuninger also shared his personal preferences, where he believes 500hp is “enough,” describing that cars with 700-800hp require significantly larger brakes, a heavier-duty suspension setup and lots of other heavy-duty bits and pieces. The result: the car actually gets heavier.

In the performance world, no matter the power, that’s no bueno.

He also shared that the new 911 GT3 for example should stick to the traditional naturally-aspirated motor along with a manual transmission.

Source: CAR

Chris Chin

Chris Chin is the Editor-In-Chief of egmCarTech and is a regular contributor to Automobile Magazine.

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