If we only had the pictures to work with, our first thought about what you see here would be that, either Porsche or a higher-end tuner with the cash to afford prototype testing on the Nürburgring, are evaluating the aerodynamic and handling properties of a new version of the Boxster. However, our spies say otherwise.
Our man behind the camera who also happens to be a Porsche-addict (sic) tells us that the blue prototype lapping the ‘Ring “sounded very different than the normal flat-six” featured on the production versions of the 981 generation model, leading him to believe that this could be a test bed for the brand’s upcoming four-pot.
Porsche’s four-cylinder boxer engine isn’t a rumor anymore as company boss Matthias Müller has confirmed the development of the new turbocharged unit that will power the next iterations of the Boxster and Cayman, possibly other models as well.
Müller has said that the flat-four (not to be confused with the VW Group-sourced 2.0-liter turbo’d inline-four offered on the new Macan) will deliver up to 400PS (396hp), which is significantly more than the naturally aspirated 3.4-liter six-cylinder boxer unit found in the new Boxster (330PS/326HP) and Cayman (340PS/335HP) GTS models today.
By John Halas
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoopS
PHOTO GALLERY
