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2018 Porsche 911 spied with production body

The next-generation Porsche 911 has been spied again, but this time it's wearing a disguised version of the production body, rather than panels borrowed from the current car.


Usually when car makers switch to testing with production body panels, they usually slather the new development vehicles with acres of disguise, but Porsche seems to have gone for a light touch with these two 911 test units.

Up front, the Zuffenhausen automaker has obscured the car's headlight graphics, and applied a bit of black tape around the edges of the air intakes. There's also some tape on the left, where the plastic bumpers meet the metal body panels, although this seems to be obscuring a wire.

It's possible, as some of our readers have suggested, that Porsche has obscured the car's true styling features with very convincing fake panels, especially with the straight cut seam between the bonnet, fenders and bumper. Zooming into the original photographs and the production-ready look of the side markers both indicate, at least to this writer, that we're looking a minimally disguised car.

There's definitely more disguise around the rear, with false body panels obscuring the diffuser and the edges of the tail-lights.

Despite these efforts, it's clear that the new 911 will continue the brand's method of slow, cautious evolution — this certainly isn't going to be a radical redesign like the AU Falcon or 1996 Ford Taurus.

The most obvious changes are the thin Mission E-style LED tail-lights, and the new flush-fitting door handles. Earlier development mules wearing the current 911 body revealed that the next-generation car will be much wider than today's car.

Power for volume models in the 911 range are expected to come from updated versions of the company's turbocharged flat-six engine family.

Under the skin, the new 911 is believed to be the first model based on a new Porsche-developed high-performance sports car architecture for mid-engine and rear-engine vehicles.

As with previous generations, the next-generation mid-engine 718 Boxster and Cayman will be based on the new 911. In time, though, the upcoming 911's platform could also be used by Audi for a new R8, and by Lamborghini for its Huracan successor.

The new Porsche 911 is expected to make its debut some time next year.

Updated (Thursday, February 2, 2017) with clarification about the disguise at the front.

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