Acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometers came in 4.6 seconds, a figure that only a few years earlier had been turbo performance. Porsche quoted the 996 top speed at 174 miles per hour, aided greatly by all of Pinky Lai’s long hours in the wind tunnel that reduced the coefficient of drag (cD) to just 0.30. When the cabriolets appeared, the new cloth top system was a remarkable update from the 993, which itself had changed the long-lived G model’s profile. Together with Lai, Eugen Kolb, in his last assignment before retirement in 1997, fashioned the new kinematics. The 993’s cloth top collapsed on the rear deck and it required a cloth cover to finish its appearance. With both the Boxster and 996 Cabrio, Kolb devised a system that raised a rear body panel that covered the mechanisms to open or collapse the top and a well in which it was stored. It disappeared in the Boxster and in the 996, the rigid front bow and glued-in-place cloth folded back on themselves to appear as the front of the tonneau. Kolb received his final design patent for this system. Generously, Porsche included a removable hardtop in the Cabrio purchase price so those who used the car in winter were better insulated. Dealers offered to store these, a blessing to owners but a burden to the shops that sometimes found themselves holding them for years. In October 1998, Porsche introduced the 996 Carrera 4 Series coupes and cabriolets and U.S. buyers got their cars starting in January 1999. Drivetrain engineers modified the optional Tiptronic S and configured the C4 chassis from the start to mate these technologies. Porsche Stability Management (PSM), a system jointly developed by Bosch and Porsche, also debuted on the C4 Series, recalling a technology from the 959 in which sensors fed information to the ABS system to electronically apply brakes to an individual wheel when excessive understeer or oversteer affected cornering stability.

Some observers had criticized the 996’s appearance as demure. That comment never came up in connection with the Turbo models that began to appear in 2000. Pinky Lai widened the rear of the car 2.6 inches to accommodate fatter rear wheels and tires, yet amazingly this harmed the cD by a single 0.01, raising the number to 0.31. With all-wheel drive and 420 horsepower, the package was a technological delight. Porsche’s racing department had expanded the capabilities of the VarioRam system to include an innovative variable camshaft profile, called VarioCam. Updating those mechanisms for this Turbo to VarioCam Plus provided the engines with between 3-millimeter and 10-millimeter valve lift and the technology also altered valve timing from early to late depending on driving loads. What’s more, the Tiptronic S, engineered to handle all-wheel drive, had been beefed up enough to accept Turbo power and torque. This combination gave the Turbo acceleration to 62 miles per hour in four seconds and a top speed above 190 miles per hour. Visually, beyond the wider rear end, Porsche enthusiasts praised the new Turbo for its revised headlights. The five-in-one system created to meet production installation-time requirements suffered some interior glue problems that gave some of the units the appearance of a smashed fried egg. New fixtures were more visually appealing in every way and they appeared on all facelifted 996s, including the C4S coupes and cabriolets that appeared in 2002. These updated the engine spec as well, with new displacement of 3,596cc, accomplished by lengthening stroke from 76 millimeters to 82.8. This, along with VarioCam Plus and other changes, brought horsepower up to 320 at 6,800 rpm.

“ The basic car in Porsche could only be the 911—at that time. Because it was the heart of the company.” — Horst Marchart

Later that year, Porsche reintroduced the Targa. Engineers had been forced to rework the system that appeared on the 993 but sometimes jammed. Instead of welding the Targa assembly on top of the Cabrio body, now a robot inserted the entire structure into the interior through the windshield frame of a reinforced (but decapitated) coupe so attachment grew stronger when highspeed driving generated lift. In the summer of 2003, Porsche again celebrated an anniversary, commemorating this time forty years of 911 engineering, design, and production since the 1963 Frankfurt introduction. The 40th Anniversary 911, painted in GT Silver, arrived on a C2 platform with a specially tuned engine delivering 345 horsepower. Production ran to 1,963 cars and it heralded the coming of the next generation of water-cooled cars that began to appear within months. As the 50th anniversary of the 911 approached, Marchart took another look back at the 996 in late 2012. “I am sure that if we were not in that crisis,” he said, “nobody would have given me the release to change the air-cooled engine to water-cooled. We were very proud because we were able to bring a new car to market without the help from VW or from Daimler. And we had this goal from the beginning, that the 996 will be a better car than the 993. If we had not made a better car, then there would be discussions in the house and in the press: Why did you make a new car if it’s not a better car?”

THE SIXTH GENERATION: 997 If Bernd Kahnau’s appraisal of 911 development is correct, that the quality of any 911 is related to the distraction of other management by other projects, then the 997 was on line to be every bit as uncompromised and as promising as the 993 had been. Porsche had an SUV to think about. The process of developing the 986 Boxster and 996 car line led Horst Marchart to reexamine the entire process of taking a car from concept to the dealership. It brought to mind a conversation he had with Peter Schutz years earlier. “Schutz had told me during a drive we made together,” Marchart said, “that he had an idea to make the 944, 928, and 911 all the same price and the customer can make the decision of which one he wants. That is unrealistic because you need market segments and you have one for the 911, one for the next, and the next. “We now know that the average 911 driver has 2.5 cars in the garage so they can have the 911, have a Cayenne, and have perhaps a sedan. The Boxster driver is a little different: 1.5 cars. We started this segments program for 996.” It led to reorganizing the development of Porsche’s cars. “So in development, the first step is describe without design what do you want, a strategy,” Marchart said. Sometimes called the lastenheft, this often is a book that defines the existing car, the state of the art, and sets targets, sometimes philosophical, sometimes metaphorical, sometimes literal. In the lastenheft for the 993, Peter Falk called for renewed agility in the 911, suggesting that the G and the recent 964 models over time had lost that attribute. “Then,” Marchart continued, “we make, normally, a concept phase. During this time we make the first design studies, the hard point development, what engine is necessary, gearbox, variations, two door, four-wheel drive. And so on. So you have a rough idea of the complete concept of the car. Where are the axles, what is the wheelbase, height of windshield, and so on. “The next step is a definition. Now the different departments start with their design of their components. Always we do this together with the team that makes the package of the car. Here is the coordination between the different components—where they are identified and modified if necessary. After this phase, we go to the board with our information and also with the design models we have made up to this time, to get the decision to go ahead.”

If the board is receptive, if Marchart or his successors are convincing, Weissach begins the three-phase vehicle development portion of the process. The time needed for each step is different for each model. “We started in 1991 with 911 and Boxster,” Marchart said. “In 1996 we began production. Nearly five years. Because all the components were completely new. If you have an existing engine and you just modify it, or you have another gearbox and you make updates, then it could be only three-and-a-half years. As a minimum.” First phase of vehicle development is design, of the car and of its components. Subcontractors and suppliers make prototype parts and they go into tests, which is phase two. Engineers have opportunities for modifications during testing. All the results and information from prototype design and testing come back into Weissach to make adjustments and develop the modifications. Typically, each modification in a design gets a number. Marchart made an inquiry and learned that—on average—each part will change ten times during these three phases. A bolt probably is not modified ten times, whereas a crankcase may undergo hundreds of changes. A normal car has between 15,000 and 17,000 parts. Keeping track of these items and their changes is part of the organization process. Before Hans-Peter Bäuerle and his colleagues perfected the hydro pulse tests on those hand-assembled body-on-white prototypes, Marchart’s drivers ran Porsche prototypes 80,000 kilometers in this second round of testing to develop the information necessary to know if the prototype was good. This took a big team. When they finished with the drives—and it took nearly five months to drive 80,000 kilometers—they needed another three months to analyze the data. That meant eight months. “So we reduced this to 35,000 and this reduces the team,” Marchart explained. “It takes out a personnel problem. The engineers kept telling me it was impossible to get the information from only 35,000 kilometers, but we changed some things and now it is possible and so they can bring the results into phase two. For instance you could drive on a smooth autobahn for 100,000 kilometers. Or go on the Belgian Blocks for 10,000 kilometers.

“You can calculate the difference so that the effect on the car is the same. Normally in the 80,000-kilometer test, you get information about other problems, the door and window seals. But those are not so big problems. If you drive 10,000 kilometers on the Belgian Road and the rear axles fall out, that is a big problem. If you drive 35,000 or even 80,000 kilometers and the door seals fail, that is not as big a problem.” The advantages of the modern-day hydro pulse tests are clear. Now most road testing is reduced to running prototypes in winter and in summer. Early on, Marchart—or Bez or Bott before him—sent cars and drivers to do winter tests while another group went to a different continent and hemisphere to perform summer tests. This sometimes gave inconsistent results. In earlier days, the procedure sent cars for winter testing in North America, then back to Weissach for modifications, and on to South Africa or Australia for summer tests. “Well, that’s not the same car we have tested in the winter because it’s changed,” Marchart explained. “Normally we need three months to prepare the prototypes. So I decided we will go in the future for summer test in Australia before Christmas time. We come back for Christmas and the cars go to North America, and after Christmas we go to drive the same car in the wintertime. That way, all the information comes together and we need make only one set of modifications. It saves money. It saves time. It saves parts.” Another significant development procedure evolved with the arrival of the 997: platform development started with the cabriolets and the coupes simultaneously. It was an idea and an approach that came from the engineers on the project themselves.

“We didn’t talk about it,” August Achleitner revealed. Achleitner was the 911 project development manager. “The convertible is more difficult, because of the body in white and the stiffness that is necessary. You have to consider some reinforcements from the beginning. You are developing, in an easier way, when you consider these special parts right from the beginning and not to make a coupe first and then, after that is finished, start to develop the convertible.” Beginning with Gerhard Schröder and Eugen Kolb, those difficulties were clear. It was nearly impossible to create an open car in 1965; it was challenging to develop the 1967 Targa; it was manageable—if hectic—to stiffen the G model for the 1983 SC Cabrio. Over the years, the engineers took notes, had memories, and started each new platform from a better-educated perspective. The starting point for 964 and 993 and 996 cabriolets was far beyond the 10 percent stiffness that Kolb and Schröder and Bäuerle discovered. For Achleitner and his development team, a separate revelation made this new procedure easier to adapt. This came from Grant Larson’s first sketches of the car and from the chassis department’s wish list. Larson made dramatic three-quarter rear views of the car with very large wide tires. It was visually arresting in its portrayal of power and potent handling. At the same time, as the chassis group contemplated what it wanted from the next generation, they reported to Achleitner. “They said, the only thing that we can change that will make the car better and faster than before is that we have to enlarge the wheels on the front and on the rear,” Achleitner said. “We just wanted to take over the body-in-white structure from the 996.” He approved enlarging the wheels not only by width, but also by diameter. “Enlarging the diameter means you also have to change the center of the wheel in relation to the body. Otherwise the car would be come too high. So every angle of all the arms of all the suspension components changed,” he added. “This led to the problem that all the forces transmitted by the wheels to the aluminum frame inside, and . . . the body in white also changed dramatically. And suddenly we had some problems with body-in-white components, some cracks. “We took an exacting look and found out that, coming from all these different and new angles, there were forces transmitted to the body. Once we understood that, we made changes and solved it, As a result, almost 80 percent of the car is completely new, and if you look at the remaining 20 percent that we did take over, this is the 3.6-liter engine of the normal Carrera,” Achleitner continued. “They said, the only thing that we can change that will make the car better and faster than before is that we have to enlarge the wheels on the front and on the rear.” — August Achleitner Not a single suspension piece came from the 996, and while this conflicted with Wiedeking’s publicly stated goal of common parts, many of these new pieces were simpler and less expensive to manufacture and easier (and therefore less expensive) to install. Significantly, Wiedeking, who in those days ranked among the world’s best business managers, understood that Porsche’s goal was to produce the best sports car possible. That goal brought awareness that predevelopment and forward planning provided benefits. Through the 993 and 996 Series, Porsche had offered narrow- and wide-body coupes and convertibles, wide-body Turbos, narrow-body Targas, and GT2 and GT3 versions. With 964s, some of these models were experiments; with 993, these were successes; and with 996, these became accepted patterns. So, if a Porsche engineer understood that any new 911 was, in its ultimate form, a GT2 RS, modifications done in design and engineering reduced development and production costs. This forced Weissach to plan all these models from the start.