The 2012 Porsche 911 Cabriolet will reach market in time for the spring thaw.
With the temperatures hovering in the low 20s one doesn’t often think of convertibles this time of year in Detroit. But Porsche is hoping to get a more balmy reception when it pulls the covers – and the top – off its new 911 sports car next week as it makes a return to the Detroit Auto Show.
After a long absence, the maker returned to the largest of the U.S. car shows – from a news standpoint, anyway – last year with the 918 Concept and it is hoping to make big news again this year with the 2012 Porsche 911 Cabriolet, the latest in what will be a string of variants to share the new sports car platform TheDetroitBureau.com reviewed back in November. (Click Here for that first drive.)
“Detroit was deliberately chosen for the world premiere of the new 911 Cabrio because the USA is far and away our largest 911 Cabrio market,” said Bernhard Maier, Porsche AG Board of Management Member for Sales and Marketing.
It’s also Porsche’s largest market overall.
The new magnesium-infused top holds the lines of the 911 coupe.
There’s not much detail in the maker’s latest release but from earlier news leaks we’ve learned that Porsche will adopt a technically slick folding soft top design that makes use of such breakthroughs as magnesium-infused canvas. That allows it to not only hold down the added weight of going al fresco but also to maintain the basic shape of the new 911 – which is longer, lower and wider than the last-generation sports car.
Porsche confirms the 2012 911 Carrera and Carrera S models will reach U.S. showrooms in February, with the Porsche 911 Cabriolet due “a few months later, which translates into “just in time for convertible weather to return to cities like Detroit. Or so the Motor City can only hope.
In a news release, Porsche noted that 2012 will see a number of new offerings reach market, including the new Panamera GTS, followed by the diesel-powered Cayenne, the maker’s first oil-burner to reach U.S. shores.
The U.S. is Porsche's largest convertible market.
Yet another new offering, the Cayun compact crossover, is set for introduction in 2013.
Add to that a new U.S. headquarters with an attached customer test track in Atlanta, and a second, even larger track near Los Angeles, both to follow in 2013.
No wonder Porsche likes the U.S. Sales here surged 15%, to 29,023. That can warm the heart of the coldest corporate bean-counter even on a winter’s day in Detroit.