By LAWRENCE TAN
Media reports from Germany are suggesting that Porsche is
considering fitting a new range of Boxsters with an engine sourced from the
Audi TTS.
The new TTS engine produces 255hp and 213 lb-ft of torque,
an improvement of 20 hp and 44 lb-ft of torque over the Boxster’s current
flat-six engine.
The move would help lower the Boxster’s price tag (from
€46,500 to €40,000), making the Boxster more attractive to prospective owners
while helping to boost flagging sales, which was down by almost 60 percent,
according to Motor Authority.
Porsche announced a 27 percent decline in sales earlier this
year as a result of the global economic downturn, so this could be one of
Stuttgart’s strategies to improve its outlook in a sluggish sales climate.
There is also continued speculation that Porsche could revive
the Porsche 914 of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but as a fifth model that
slots in beneath the Boxster and shares mechanical inputs from Volkswagen,
though Porsche R&D chief Wolfgang Dürheimer has categorically dismissed the
reports.
Porsche
via Motor Authority