Photo: Guilherme Knop and João Schendel
Porsche was on the brink of making a huge mistake with the aluminum-bodied 928. Originally designed as the replacement for the 911, the front-engined and rear-driven luxury coupe never succeeded the Neunelfer. It did, however, secure a place in the automotive pantheon of greats.
Porsche developed their first series-production V8 for the 928, the legendary M28 that grew from 4.5 to 5.4 liters. Rated at up to 345 horsepower and 369 pound-feet (500 Nm) of torque, the bellowing engine was complemented by a transaxle to achieve a 50/50 weight distribution, making the 928 that bit easier to control than the rear-biased 911 on the raggedy edge of grip.
Round pop-up headlights integrated into the front wings made the fastback-styled grand tourer unmistakable in anyone’s rearview mirror, and the same can be said about the sloping hatchback once the Porker flexed its front-mounted V8. Speaking of which, the 928 was the fastest street-legal production car in the United States for a brief period in the ‘80s.
Unfortunately for Porsche, none of the praise received by the 928 was reflected in the sales figures. A little over 61,000 units were moved from 1977 to 1995, and for a long time, used models were cheap to buy over high repair costs. In recent years, however, the market has tipped in favor of the 928 as the crop of current sports cars has downsized to force-fed powertrains.
What makes the 928 all that more desirable is that it’s not based on any existing model. It’s a clean-sheet design without a successor, and that brings us to automotive designer Guilherme Knop and 3GI expert João Schendel.
Knop cut his teeth for the Volkswagen Group in Germany and Brazil with the likes of the Tarok concept and T-Cross, and thanks to his vast experience in design, Knop laid pen to paper to imagine a 928 for the 2021 model year.
Rendered in three dimensions by João, the retro-modern rendering before your eyes features a V8 engine just like the original. Based on the color of the brake calipers and the quad-tipped exhaust system, the bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful coupe ideally features a plug-in hybrid V8 powertrain.
But alas, Porsche has no plans of making a Panamera coupe right now.
Round pop-up headlights integrated into the front wings made the fastback-styled grand tourer unmistakable in anyone’s rearview mirror, and the same can be said about the sloping hatchback once the Porker flexed its front-mounted V8. Speaking of which, the 928 was the fastest street-legal production car in the United States for a brief period in the ‘80s.
Unfortunately for Porsche, none of the praise received by the 928 was reflected in the sales figures. A little over 61,000 units were moved from 1977 to 1995, and for a long time, used models were cheap to buy over high repair costs. In recent years, however, the market has tipped in favor of the 928 as the crop of current sports cars has downsized to force-fed powertrains.
What makes the 928 all that more desirable is that it’s not based on any existing model. It’s a clean-sheet design without a successor, and that brings us to automotive designer Guilherme Knop and 3GI expert João Schendel.
Knop cut his teeth for the Volkswagen Group in Germany and Brazil with the likes of the Tarok concept and T-Cross, and thanks to his vast experience in design, Knop laid pen to paper to imagine a 928 for the 2021 model year.
Rendered in three dimensions by João, the retro-modern rendering before your eyes features a V8 engine just like the original. Based on the color of the brake calipers and the quad-tipped exhaust system, the bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful coupe ideally features a plug-in hybrid V8 powertrain.
But alas, Porsche has no plans of making a Panamera coupe right now.
Google News