Porsche announces cheaper coupe

Porsche's entry-level Cayman sports coupe won't be much more powerful than the base Boxster.

Porsche will launch an entry-level version of its new Cayman sports coupe later this year in a move to capitalise on the fresh appeal of the Boxster-based model.

The new hard-top will be priced at around €48,000 ($96,578)in Germany and powered by the mid-mounted 2.7-litre flat-six engine used in the base-model convertible Boxster. The premium Cayman S uses a 3.4-litre flat-six engine, a derivative of the 911 Carrera unit.

Porsche New Zealand is keeping the arrival date and price of the Cayman under wraps.

The company's general manager Grant Smith is at Porsche headquarters in Germany for a briefing on the new model.

The 2.7-litre Cayman is not exactly unexpected. There was much speculation when the Cayman S was launched last year that a base model would eventually emerge.

Yet while the Cayman S was positioned to fit perfectly into the performance gap between the Boxster S and Porsche's base 911 Carrera, the new Cayman will only be minimally more powerful than the base Boxster.

Its 2.7-litre engine is expected to produce 180kW (245bhp) against the lower priced Boxster's 177kw (240bhp). The extra few kilowatts gives the Cayman a top speed of 260km/h (160mph) and a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 6 seconds. The Boxster is good for 257km/h and 6.2 seconds.

Analysts in Germany say that Porsche has moved quicker than expected with the new Cayman in the hopes that its fresh design would gain more appeal. Production on the entry-level Cayman will begin at the end of July.

Meanwhile, Porsche plans to invest US$153 million ($241 million) in the expansion of its Leipzig plant, where it will assemble its Panamera four-door coupe, its fifth model line.