2013 Porsche 961

Hold on to your seats, Porsche fans. There may be something brewing in Stuttgart that will completely change the landscape of Porsche in the coming years.

According to the German site, AutoBild.de, the German automaker is working on a completely new model called the Porsche 961. By now bells should be ringing in the heads of hardcore motorsports fans who remember a certain 961 racer that did a brief stint in the 80s. The old 961 only ran a total of three races - 24 Hours of Lemans, Camel GT Championship, and Lemans once again - before it experienced some technical difficulties and was laid to rest in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.

The 961 racer from the 80s was modeled after Porsche’s 959 sports car, but the newest rendition is rumored to be a V8-powered flagship car that takes after the Porsche 918 and will be slotted above the iconic 911. Details are still sketchy at this point, but rumors are that the 961 has been tagged under the internal code ’9X1’ and in addition to having a powerful engine, the car could also be built as a hybrid, with an electric motor providing additional power to the car to the tune of somewhere around 600 horsepower.

Rumored price tag for the upcoming Porsche 961 has been pegged at somewhere in the neighborhood of €200,000, which is a little under $300,000 based on current exchange rates. The flagship coupe is also expected to make its official debut in 2013, giving us enough time to digest all this information and build up the hype of what is you can bet is going to be Porsche’s new crown jewel.

UPDATE 09/27/2011: British magazine, CAR, has set up some new rumors about the upcoming Porsche supercar which will be placed between the current 911 and the upcoming 918. It seems that the new Ferrari 458 Italia competitor will be codenamed project 960 and will be built on Volkswagen Group’s new Mimo platform. The new 960 will have nothing in common with the 918 Spyder and will use the same components as the future facelifted 911. You won’t see a twin-turbo V8 engine under the hood either; instead Porsche will use a twin-turbo 3.8-liter boxer engine with an output of about 600bhp and 550 lb-ft of torque. Porsche will offer both coupe and roadster versions and prices will start from €200,000, or $270,000 at the current exchange rates. (CAR)