Porsche will put the 911 Speedster into production

Such was the clamour for Porsche to go ahead and build the 911 Speedster Concept it presented at its 70th birthday celebrations back in June, it’s decided to do just that. At this week’s Paris Motor Show, the company announced it plans to build 1,948 (the original 356 was signed-off in 1948) Speedsters, and that production is scheduled to begin early next year.

Though the car on Porsche’s stand in Paris is still officially a “Concept Study”, there’s no doubt in our minds this is pretty much how the production version is going to look. Painted in Guards Red, just like the G-Model 911 Speedsters from the late Eighties, the Paris Speedster has new 21-inch centre-lock wheels, red-tinted daytime running lights and a black leather interior with red highlights. The “Talbot”-style wing mirrors and central fuel-filler cap of the first Concept remain, but here are finished in dark-chrome/platinum for a more subtle look. A lightweight tonneau cover provides some (but not much) dry-ness in the event of a shower.

Mechanically, the two Speedsters are identical. That means a body borrowed from the Carrera 4 Cabriolet, modified with shortened window frames, a more steeply-raked windscreen, a carbon-fibre “double-bubble” rear deck and carbon front wings. The chassis, engine and gearbox are from the 911 GT3 – a naturally-aspirated flat-six giving over 500bhp drives the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.

This could be the last 991-generation 911. A fitting end, or an over-saturation? Comment below.