PORSCHE WILL USE NEXT month’s Geneva motor show to unveil its most powerful and advanced road car to date—the Carrera GT.

With a 205-mph top speed and stunning acceleration— 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and 0 to 124 mph in 9.9 seconds—the sleek two-seater has been developed for the road with all of Porsche’s celebrated race car experience and production car know-how combined.

“Our aim is to bring the driver of the Carrera GT as close as possible to a full-blown racetrack experience on the road,” was how one high-ranking Porsche official enthusiastically described the new car.





Stuttgart’s supercar goes on sale after its world debut at Geneva on March 4. Exact pricing is still under wraps, but Porsche confirms its road rocket will cost between $350,000 and $400,000. Prospective customers will need to be quick, though. Supply will be limited to just 1000 cars—all left-hand drive—over a planned three-year production run. This number is down from the 2000 cars Porsche officials said would be needed to make the venture profitable. Porsche North America says it has about 1000 “serious prospects” for the car.

The Carrera GT evolved out of Porsche’s aborted 2000 Le Mans challenger and is intended to thrust the spotlight back onto performance in a year when Porsche is offering its first vehicle outside the sports car ranks, the four-wheel-drive Cayenne sport/utility vehicle. Eschewing its long history of horizontally opposed six-cylinder engines for its fastest runners, the carbon fiber-bodied Carrera GT is propelled by an all-new 68-degree 5.7-liter V10 engine linked to a six-speed manual transmission.

The naturally aspirated engine produces 603 hp and 427 lb-ft of torque, enough to make the 3036-pound mid-engined rear-drive car the fastest road-going Porsche ever, Porsche claims.

Porsche says prototype versions of the car have lapped the 12.9-mile Nurburgring in less than seven minutes and 30 seconds at the hands of a test driver—almost a minute faster than the 911 Carrera and some 30 seconds faster than the previous-generation GT3.

In production trim, the Carrera GT remains faithful to the open-top concept car shown at the Paris motor show in 2000. A lightweight roof structure designed to provide all-weather capability and reduce wind buffeting at high speeds is the biggest difference.



It consists of two carbon fiber shells that stow in the car’s front luggage compartment. Other changes include larger cooling ducts in the nose and along the sides, modified headlamp and taillamp graphics, a more substantial windshield frame and sturdier rollover hoops behind the seats. The need to provide substantial downforce heavily influences the Carrera GT’s over- all shape, and requires a retract-able rear wing that deploys at speeds in excess of 75 mph.



With its Zuffenhausen plant already bursting at the seams to meet demand for the Boxster and 911, Porsche will build the Carrera GT alongside the Cayenne at its new factory in Leipzig (AW, Sept. 2, 2002). Though plans call for building just 1000 cars by 2006, suppliers say they’re being asked to tool up for a 1300-car run.