#Porsche

Porsche will reportedly be raising prices between 4 and 8 percent on the European and U.S. markets during the second half of 2023 to cope with higher operating costs noted in its first-quarter earnings announcement. Even so, higher-end brands appear to be doing fairly well at present, and Porsche itself noted that operating profits rose to €1.84 billion ($2.03 billion USD) while revenue increased to €10.1 billion in Q1 — which is about 25 percent higher than they were last year.

We could debate whether the Cayenne saved Porsche until the cows come home, but there’s no denying the SUV’s appeal and popularity in the automaker’s lineup. The SUV’s getting a refresh for 2024, but it’s not the mild facelift we often see in the industry. Porsche’s giving the Cayenne better powertrains, a revised interior with more screens, and upgraded suspension.

We’ve been hearing about Porsche’s electric ambitions for a while, and the automaker has confirmed that the Macan will be powered by electrons soon. A short while ago, there were strong rumors that the automaker would build an ultra-high-end EV to slot in above the Cayenne, and it recently clarified how its next few years would play out from a product perspective.

Following news that the European Union had delayed voting on the prospective banning of the internal combustion engine, Porsche and Ferrari have reportedly been doing their utmost to encourage exemptions for synthetic fuels. Presented as an alternative to gasoline and diesel, “e-fuels” would theoretically allow the automakers to continue selling traditional engines while offering fuels they claim would be less harmful to the environment.

However, cutting through the industry rhetoric on this will be important. Despite assurances that synthetic fuels would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there are a lot of lingering questions about e-fuels.

Porsche is going electric, shifting decades of motorsport and engineering knowledge to completely novel propulsion systems and platforms. The Taycan arrived in 2020 with mind-bending performance, and we’ve seen spy images of an electric 718, so it’s not a huge surprise to learn that the automaker is planning an electric seven-seat SUV to compete with the latest and greatest from Mercedes and BMW. 

The Porsche 911 Dakar is set to join the ranks of ultra-cool but ultra-expensive and difficult-to-find models in the automaker’s vast catalog, but that hasn’t stopped it from offering upgrades for the car. To celebrate the car’s rally roots, Porsche announced a series of retro wraps inspired by the brand’s run in the East African Safari Rally and the Paris-Dakar Rally in the 1970s and 80s.

People have been building wild off-road Porsche models in garages and custom shops for years, so it wasn’t surprising to see the automaker get into the action with its own beefy 911 model late last year. The 911 Dakar is absolutely unobtainium, however, as the company is only making 2,500 of them. There is hope for people who missed out, as Porsche’s chairman told Car Magazine that more classic and rugged models are coming.

We’ve been hearing about Porsche’s eFuel program for a while, but the automaker only recently opened its first production facility for the innovative gasoline alternative. The facility will start with a modest 34,000-gallon annual output before ramping to a massive 14.5 million-gallon-per-year figure by the middle of the decade.

Porsche released a fairly impressive update for the Taycan EV this month, one that effectively halves the sport sedan’s charging time whilst using a Level 2 charger. 

While we don’t generally rush to mindlessly parrot news about executive changes at major car companies, this one is worth noting. After all, with this shakeup in Germany, it means VW Group and Porsche are about to share a design chief – but one with a familiar face.

Matrix headlights didn’t become legal in the United States until early in 2022 after automakers and enthusiasts waited almost a decade for the NHTSA decision. Europeans have enjoyed the technology for years, and automakers have had time to refine their designs. We’re starting to see second-generation LED matrix lighting systems hit the market, including a new one from Porsche. 

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Want to see a Porsche 911 Dakar tackle some rough terrain? Prefer to do it sans commentary and cheesy music? Boy, have we got the deal for you.

You won’t read about it on any automaker’s website or sales materials, but nearly every major car company buys and studies its competitors’ products. Spy photographers sometimes catch companies like Ford benchmarking a Chevy Camaro or new Silverado pickup truck to gain insights into how they compare to a Mustang or F-150. Electric vehicles have democratized performance and speed, making them more accessible across a broader range of cars, so it’s not surprising to see Polestar testing a Porsche 911 to prepare for its own sports car launch in 2026.

Sometimes, used-car prices cause one's eyes to pop. That is the case here, with this 2018 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS. It's certified pre-owned, and at $78,000, it's not cheap.