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Porsche's latest 911 to last fourteen years, dowsized turbo engines under development

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The new 991-generation of the Porsche 911 is now upon us, with the Carrera and Carrera S coupes unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. So what do you think? Because love it or hate it, it'll be around for a while; 14 years, if the latest reports prove accurate.

According to Car, the new 911 will be around for two seven-year product lifecycles. And over the course of its life, you can bet that it'll spawn as many derivatives as the model it replaces.

First down the pipeline will reportedly be the Cabriolet, expected to arrive in both regular (3.4-liter 350-horsepower flat-six) and S (3.8-liter/400hp) versions in 2012 with semi-rigid folding panels under a new type of fabric that will look like an ordinary convertible but offer more solidity once up and folding beneath a hard boot instead of a fabric tonneau cover.

Towards the end of next year, we're to expect the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S, followed by the 520-horsepower twin-spool 911 Turbo in 2013 and Turbo Cabrio in 2014, with the enthusiast's favorite 911 GT3 also arriving in 2013. The 911 Targa is tipped to go back in late 2013 or early 2014 from its sliding glass roof to a more conventional removable panel, with Speedster and hybrid versions also under consideration.

Porsche is also said to be developing a new generation of smaller-displacement turbo sixes to fit into the 911 in place of the ever-growing unit that has ballooned to as much as a four full liters in the GT3 RS 4.0. How Zuffenhausen will then differentiate the 911 Turbo when they've all got spools remains to be seen, but we'll reportedly have until 2015 to find out.

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