There is an upcoming new member of the ever-expanding Porsche 911 family. What you see in the gallery below is the prototype 911 ST which will be a special edition model inspired by the trail racing models from the early 1970s. It’s definitely not the final product you’ll see in the company’s showroom, but new spy photos reveal many of its design features.
You can’t miss the double-bubble roof, for example, which derives directly from the 911 Sport Classic that launched earlier this year. This test vehicle doesn’t have a two-tone body and is all black, but there may be a different color scheme for the production model that will highlight the roof design more, which remains under wraps to some extent for now. Another feature to note is the center locking wheel set and this should come as no surprise as the 911 ST is reportedly based on the Porsche 911 GT3 Touring.
Moving to the rear, there is a strange black circle on the cowling mesh, to the left of the brake light. We don’t know for sure what it is, but our spy photographer reports that this could be the location of the Porsche Heritage logo, similar to the emblem seen on the 911 Sport Classic. Further down the rear fascia is an aggressive diffuser with a pair of mid-mounted exhaust pipes, though this layout appears to be the same as the regular Touring 911 GT3.
Logically, the powertrain under the rear hood will also be shared with the 911 GT3 Touring without modifications. If these assumptions are correct, it is expected that the 4.0-liter flat-six will continue to produce 502 horsepower (374 kilowatts) and 346 pound-feet (469 Newton-meters) of torque. Whether or not there will be a manual transmission remains to be seen.
The 911 ST is believed to be the second of a total of three heritage versions of the 911 sports car that Porsche is aiming to launch. The first is the aforementioned 911 Sport Classic and word is that the third will be a revived version of the Carrera RS. But before it arrives, the 911 ST will make its debut possibly next year.
