Porsche Fan’s Starter Car & Baby Porsche Boxster

I had a couple of things that didn’t make the Sunday post, but found them too interesting to pass up.

VW GTI is Porsche Fan’s starter car – I found this pretty interesting and the logic somewhat believable. Brian Scotto, editorial director of 0-60 Magazine says, “The GTI has a direct bloodline to Audis and Porsches. It’s an aspirational vehicle. The guy who wants to grow up and drive a Porsche will probably drive a VW first. It’s the least expensive German sports car you can buy.” I wonder how true that is. I’ve never owned a VW GTI, but always liked them. I wouldn’t hesitate to drive one, even today. Any other Porsche owners start out with a GTI? [Via Bloomberg.com]

Porsche confirmed that it’s looking at bringing a baby Boxster to market – Another one that’s been around for a while in rumor form, but Autocar.co.uk has confirmed that VW Group chairman, Martin Winterkorn indicated they’re evaluating the baby Boxster. Here’s a snippet from an Autocar post:

Talking to Autocar in Wolfsburg as the new VW Polo received its the 2010 Car of the Year Award, Winterkorn said: “The Porsche model range is firmly based on the 911, Boxster, Cayenne and Cayman, and it will stay that way. We are also investigating opportunities for a smaller sports car and a smaller SUV – but I cannot say more at the moment.”

When asked how likely the new models were to make production, he responded: “Let’s just say we do not usually waste our effort…”

That’s certainly not enough to figure the car into the Porsche lineup in the next 3 years, but it speaks volumes to the increasing chances the Boxster will have a younger sibling to play with in the not so distant future. Some insiders are calling the model the “new 356”. It’s expected to be based on a platform Audi is developing for it’s own R4 mid-engined sports car. Will be interesting to see what ends up of this confirmed rumor. I also wonder how well it will be received since it’s not going to be a bargain basement model in terms of price. [Via Autocar.co.uk; Image: Autocar.co.uk]