Yahoo Autos When Porsche Bet Its Future on Front-Engine Sports Cars
Porsche executives in the mid-1970s imagined a very different future for their company than the one it ended up with. The rear-engined 911, in their eyes, was a flawed and aging design, so they set out to replace it with two front-engine cars, the 924 and the 928. Of course, we know that their vision didn't totally pan out because the 911 remains stubbornly in production today, but these cars play an important role in Porsche's history.
As Carfection explains in its latest video, the front-engine cars, especially the 944, were Porsche's savior in the 1980s. After stumbling a bit with the slow, VW-derived 924, Porsche had a runaway success with the 944, which helped keep the 911 alive. The big, V8-powered 928 never quite hit it big for Porsche, but it attracted somewhat of a cult following.
The 944 and the 928 might not be still with us, but their spirit survives at Porsche–the 718 Boxster/Cayman occupy the same space as the former, and you can make the case that the 928 was reborn as the Panamera sedan.
