WHILE SOME PEOPLE are obviously doing it tough, there are still enough with the readies to stump up for expensive sports cars (although, to be fair, both the Macan and the Cayenne SUVs outsell the 911).
Despite overall sales being down by 12.8 percent last year (in part due to model changeovers for the Macan and Cayenne) the evergreen 911 came within just 11 units of setting a new yearly sales record.
Now there’s a new 911 on the market (the 992-series).
The various models will be rolled out over a period of time, starting with the S and 4S models. In a further four to six weeks, the cabriolet will arrive.
The Carrera S and 4S pricing will start at $265,000 (plus ORC) and the all-wheel drive 4S model at $281,100. The cabriolet S will be $286,500 and the 4S breaks the $300k barrier at $302,600 (although with options and other costs, it won’t be the only 911 costing more than $300,000 to take home).
The base-level Carrera will be revealed mid-year and be on sale late in the year. Over 2020 and 2021, the rest of the range, including Turbo, Turbo S, GT3, GTS and Targa will arrive.
As always, the new 911 isn’t immediately or dramatically different from its predecessor, but it gets an all-new aluminium chassis, new PDK dual-clutch automatic (the seven-speed manual transmission will be available later in the year as a no-cost option) and a heavily revised twin-turbo 3-litre flat six-cylinder engine. With a body now 100 percent aluminium, body weight has been reduced by five percent, although overall kerb weight is slightly up.
The Carrera S figures rise to 331kW at 6500rpm (up 22kW) and 530Nm (up 30Nm). One hundred km/h comes up in 3.7 seconds (3.6 in the 4S).
We’ll try and get our hands on one (or more) and bring you a detailed review in the near future.