Porsche 960 supercar confusion

Porsche 960 - will sit below the Porsche 918 Spyder

Now firmly in the bosom of the VW Group, Porsche is forging ahead with its plan to dominate every expensive ‘Sporty’ niche on the planet – a bit like Audi, but at a higher level.

One of the new models we know about – or are almost certain we know – is on the way is a Ferrari 458 and McLaren MP4-12C competing Porsche 960.

The venerable Georg Kacher talked about the Porsche 960 in Car Magazine last year and his utterings made much sense. Pitched between the current 911 and the yet to arrive Porsche 918 Spyder, the 960 was said to make use of VW’s new MSB-M Platform, have a mid-mounted 3.8 litre, twin turbo flat six and offer around 600bhp.

That’s the territory Ferrari and McLaren are in and Porsche should be able to craft something at least as dynamic and appealing at a similar price point – around £200k – and neatly sitting between the 911 and the new 918.

But a week or so ago Georg revisited Porsche’s plans for the 960 with Automobile Magazine and seems to have morphed the 960 in to a Ferrari FF competitor.

Now whether Georg has had an off day, a sub-editor made a mess of his copy or he’s a prophetic genius (which may be a given) we’re not sure. But suddenly Georg has the Porsche 960 down as a four door coupe with a mid-engine architecture.

How that works we’re not too sure. The only way we see it is as a very long car indeed or with rear seat passengers sitting in dicky seats out back behind the engine. Which all seems rather improbable.

So for now we’re sticking with the Porsche 960 being a more sensible 2 seater 458/12C basher. That does at least make sense.