All eyes on new Porsche

Porsche has looked to the future with the design of its motorsport-inspired Carrera GT and to the past with its new 911.

The GT will make its debut at the Geneva motor show next month and the 911 is expected to be unveiled at the Frankfurt show in September.

The million-dollar Carrera GT weighs 1380kg and is made from a mix of lightweight material, including carbon fibre in the underbody to help aerodynamic performance.

It is powered by a 5.7-litre V10 engine - a reworked 5.5-litre V10 dry-sump race engine - which produces 450kW (612bhp) and 590Nm of torque driving the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.

Porsche says the Carrera GT has a top speed of 330km/h, sprints from zero to 100km/h in under four seconds and on to 200km/h in 9.9 seconds. The first Carrera GT will be delivered at the end of this year.

The new 911 will go on sale next year. It looks much like the model replaced five years ago as Porsche takes a closer look at the design history of the 911.

The computer-generated photo shows that the current headlight design has been dropped in favour of the round lights characteristic of previous 911 models.

The fog lights and turn indicators in the new car are seperate from the headlights.

The restyled bodywork will allow the use of 19-inch wheels. The rear of the car, more rounded than the current model, will incorporate a retractable spoiler. Reports in Europe say Porsche will allow more engine noise into the cabin following complaints that the current 911 is too quiet. The reduction in sound-deadening material will also make the car lighter.

Porsche is expected to retain the present 235kW 3.6-litre flat-six engine, although a 3.8-litre variant with 260kW on tap will appear in higher-performance models.

Next year's 911 will be the last before the replacement model in 2006. The round headlights will help differentiate it from the Boxster range which, says overseas reports, gets a hardtop version in 2005.

A major mechanical change from the current 911 will be the option of an automated manual gearbox, similar to the Selespeed system used by Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.

Porsche pioneered the use of such a system with the Sportomatic shift in the 1970s. The clutch was disengaged electronically when the driver put pressure on the gear shift.

But the new system will be much more sophisticated. It will use two clutches, a development of the system in the six-speed Audi TT. One clutch works on first, third and fifth gears, the other on second, fourth and sixth.

The advantages of such a system is that there is virtually no interruption in power delivery.

Porsche sales reached a record high in New Zealand last year and the addition of the 4WD Cayenne in a few months and the new 911 next year will boost them further still.