The Porsche 911 Speedster is going to be a very exclusive sports car.
We got our first good look at the 911 Speedster concept at Goodwood Festival of Speed last month. The car was described by Andreas Preuninger, the head of Porsche’s GT division, as an “R without a roof”, with the R being itself based on the 911 GT3 RS but with a few cosmetic changes thrown in.
The Speedster Concept, as it was called, didn’t exactly fly up the Goodwood Hill, but it did certainly impress car aficionados with its classic look married to modern power and performance--something that Porsche has based their entire company around.
Even as Preuninger discussed the car’s ‘60s-inspired headlights and side mirrors, he was very cagey when it came to the topic of actually seeing a production version. “This is just a toy,” he’d said, so it wasn’t clear whether Porsche had decided to actually push the Speedster into production.
Now it seems that Porsche has finally made up their mind when it comes to the Speedster, according to a new report from Autocar. The Speedster has been given the green light.
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We’ll have to wait until 2019 for us to ever see one, and Porsche insiders didn’t exactly say when in 2019 either. They did say that the car would be limited to 1,948 units, which is a number so exact that it surely commemorates the Porsche 356, which rolled off assembly lines in June of 1948.
The styling of the 356 also served as inspiration for the Speedster, so it all comes full-circle.
Given the fact that the Speedster is made of mostly off-the-shelf Porsche components, it wouldn’t take them long to whip up 1,948 cars by June of next year.
Porsche insiders also revealed a few specs of the car: the Speedster will use the same engine as the 911 GT3 RS, which is a 4.0-L naturally aspirated flat-six. Power is expected to exceed 500 hp, which is more than the 494 hp that the concept came with.
In order to save weight, the Speedster has no air conditioning, radio, or sat-nav system. Instead, you get an open roof, carbon fiber bucket seats, carbon fiber trunk, roof, and spoilers, as well as the distinctive retro styling that would compel a true gearhead to endure a car without air conditioning.
No word on pricing, but we’d be surprised to hear the Speedster go for less than $200,000 each. It’s expensive to make a car without air conditioning.