Following an understated worldwide RHD debut of the new Porsche 911 at a special display-only event in Melbourne last November, the 991 is now in Australia ready for local deliveries.
Initially the 3.4 litre Carerra and 3.8 litre Carrera S will start proceedings, with corresponding 911 Cabriolet models to follow in April. Exact dates for the all-wheel drive Carrera 4 models are yet to be announced, but it’s expected they’ll be on sale in Australia late this year or early next.
Interestingly the 997 Carrera 4, Cabriolet and Turbo models will continue to be sold in Australia until their 991 replacements arrive.
Reported in Go Auto, Porsche Cars Australia Managing Director, Michael Winkler, expects the Carrera S will continue to roughly double the sales of the cheaper model. “Australians tend to go for the best that is available,” said Winkler.
Porsche has made improvement across the board for what is just the third completely all-new 911 since its launch almost 50 years ago. As a result the overall length of the car has grown by 56mm, while the wheel base has extended by 100mm. These changes are partly aimed at reducing front-end lift, a common 911 characteristic. Width remains the same as the 997 and there’s a minor reduction in height as well.
Engine enhancements have yielded modest power gains compared to the 997 and the 3.4 litre in the Carerra has 257kW (+3kW from the old 3.6 litre), the 3.8 litre in Carrera S offers 294kW (+11kW from 997). Fuel consumption has dropped across the board and the official figures surprisingly economical (8.2l/100km for the Carrera and 8.7l/100km for the S). Real world consumption may be higher, of course, but a great starting point nonetheless.
A quick reference table showing Australian pricing is available below. If you really want to sink your teeth in the details of the 991 911 then you can download this comprehensive document The new 911 Australian Edition (2.6mb PDF) which has managed to find its way to AUSmotive’s inbox.
