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(from Porsche Press Release) Debut for 911 Carrera Cabriolet with innovative roof concept

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is doubling the driving fun to be had from the new 911 Carrera by putting a Cabriolet alongside the Coupé. The debut of the new generation of the sports car classic is being followed only a few months later by the open-top models of the 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S in the new 911 design.

What the Coupé began with the new aluminium-steel body, the Cabriolet continues with the all-new, unique hood: As a result, the typical 911 roof line is initially retained in its entirety. Even when closed up, the Cabriolet cuts a fine figure. Intelligent lightweight design, even including the use of magnesium in the hood, ensures less weight and more sportiness, lower fuel consumption and greater comfort. With the open-top 911s as well, Porsche has managed to reverse the weight spiral and make the new Cabrio models significantly lighter than its predecessors.

Each of the two new Cabriolets has the same engine as its Carrera Coupé equivalent. The rear of the 911 Carrera Cabrio houses a 3.4-litre flat engine generating 350 hp (257 kW) of power driving the rear wheels through a seven-gear manual transmission. The open-top Carrera S comes with a 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine developing 400 hp (294 kW) and also a seven-gear manual transmission featured as standard. That means that the open-top 911s as well are distancing themselves even further from the competition in terms of efficiency; both models consume less than ten litres of fuel per 100 kilometres (NEDC). The Cabriolets as well have the Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) available as an optional extra, delivering even lower fuel consumption and shorter acceleration times.

With the longer wheelbase compared with the predecessor model, the wider front track and the new electro-mechanical power steering, the new Cabriolets offer even sportier driving characteristics, greater precision and agility. Depending on model, there are other standard or optional active control systems available as well that further enhance the driving dynamics.

The 911 Carrera Cabriolet will be launched in Germany on March 3, 2012. The prices for the 911 Carrera Cabriolet start in Germany with 100,532 Euros, the 911 Carrera S Cabriolet starts with 114,931 Euros including value-added tax in both cases.

Due to CEO Wendelin Wiedeking’s failed effort to acquire VW, Porsche’s total 2009 loss came to an astounding €4,400,000,000, or $6,500,000,000.  The number is incredible given that Porsche was the most prosperous car company a year earlier, and that Porsche is still an independent automobile manufacturer.  (Though that will change as VW reverses the situation and takes a large stake in Porsche.)  Looking at the Panamera, we’re not holding much hope for the once-proud German nameplate–but we are loving the new Boxster Spyder.

Swiss tuner Sportec is looking to make the SPR1 its starmaker in the tuner world.  Besides trimming weight through composite panels (now under 3,000 lbs.) and adding a re-enforced cabin for protection, tuners have pushed the 997 Turbo’s 3.6 L flat-six to put out 858 hp.  That extreme figure allows the SPR1 to hit sixty in three seconds and achieve a top speed of 236 mph.

According to CNN, the Sportec is so extreme that Swiss police have had to detain it upon hearing North Korean agents sought to stuff it full of uranium and ram through the DMZ.

Porsche execs have killed off rumors of a new sports car in the lineup.  The blogged-of fifth model was to be an entry-level roadster priced below the Boxster–which made no sense since the Boxster is as base as a Porsche can get, while still being good.  Instead, execs are fully promoting the visual monstrosity known as the Panamera and insisting enthusiasts ignore the unfavorable financial news which will probably kill CEO Wendelin Wiedeking’s career.

When asked about the decision to not pursue any new sports car development, Porsche USA rep Jan Fuckelbach went into a anti-Semitic tirade, blaming Stuttgart’s misfortune on “them Jews” and calling for the industry’s purification from “corrupting elements.”

Just kidding–Fuckelback is just some homeless guy we found walking by the Porsche dealership at Figueroa in Downtown.

So it seems Porsche’s CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, is furious that people within his company are leaking info about its dire financial situation.  It wasn’t long ago that Porsche was the most profitable enterprise in the business.  Now that’s over, and Wiedeking is begging the German treasury to provide billions in emergency cash to save his company from bankruptcy.

All this chaos in just a few months.  What a man.

I’m not going to hide it: I think Wiedeking is the worst auto exec still employed.  This is a guy who took a wealthy and promising concern, and got it screwed harder than Kim Kardashian in the Saints’ locker room.  Plenty of folks want to give Robert Nardelli of Chrysler that title, but Nardelli did nothing more than hurt an already broken company.

I like to point to the Panamera as a symbol of all that’s wrong with Wiedeking and Porsche’s whored identity.  What is Porsche today?  A fashion statement.  It’s a brand Jerry Seinfeld markets.  It’s a line of apparel.  It’s an overpriced and overweight Volkswagen SUV.  It’s a sedan that’s uglier than Joy Behar at a nude shoot.  The tragic thing is that I’d rather get into Behar than the sedan.

Some of that is unfair.  The Cayenne was a key reason why Porsche prospered over the past decade, and it is a good SUV–just not a good Porsche.  Porsche’s own status has been somewhat wounded since it became a yuppie icon in the 1980s.  I also have to give Porsche Design its dues: those varsity jackets are pretty damn fine.

That is beside the point.  Porsche is billions in debt, it’s probably going to be annexed by a bigger company, and it’s set to win the dubious honor of having the ugliest machine on wheels since the Aztek.  I don’t think even a Cayman Turbo could redeem this once-great marque in the eyes of true enthusiasts.  Frankly, I don’t care kind of flattering words Jay Leno or Jeremy Clarkson have for Panamera.  (If they do have them, that is.)

There’s only one rational thing that can be done to help remedy this: Sentence Wiedeking to death by impalement, with no chance for appeal.

We must let reason prevail.