New Porsches you won't see

PORSCHE Cars Australia is in the midst of one of its busiest new model release years ever, but a dispute over exhibition space at the 2006 Australian International Motor Show in Sydney from October 7 will prevent a bevy of new Porsches from making their national public debuts.

PCA, which in recent years has chosen to show its wares only every second year in Sydney because of the prohibitive costs involved, said this year's request for the same floor space it occupied at the 2004 Sydney show was denied by show organiser, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

"We respect the difficulties the organisers have in trying to accommodate all exhibitors, but it's unfortunate that in this instance if we had accepted the space offered we would not have done our brand and the public justice," PCA press relations manager Paul Ellis told GoAuto.

"The space they came back to us with would have been unworkable with the large number of important new models we would have had to show. (But) there is no ill feeling. The decision not to be there was ours, not theirs," he said.

The failure of PCA and the FCAI to agree to terms - and the fact PCA is yet to decide if it will attend the 2007 Melbourne motor show in March - means that Porsche's redesigned 997-series 911 Turbo, GT3 and GT3 RS supercars are unlikely to receive official public premieres in Australia.

Both new flagship 911 variants made their global debuts at the Geneva motor show in March, and Porsche is expected to use this September's Paris motor show to provide global debuts for the new wide-bodied 911 Targa 4 and Targa 4S all-wheel drive variants revealed two weeks ago, the new 2.7-litre entry-level Cayman coupe variant launched in Europe this month and the upgraded MY2007 2.7-litre Boxster and 3.4-litre Boxster S - all of which go on sale this year.

The new 911 Turbo will be the next new model off the PCA rank. It goes on sale in August and PCA's first-year allocation of about 80 examples has almost sold out already.

The 180kW 2.7-litre Cayman will join its 217kW 3.4-litre Cayman S twin on sale here by October - the same month the same engines are expected to go on sale in the upgraded 2007 Boxster and Boxster S respectively.

A limited supply of less than 40 911 Targa 4 and Targa 4S coupes are expected to arrive from late December - the same month about twice as many examples of the all-new GT3 are due for first deliveries. The latter's racetrack-oriented sibling, the GT3 RS, won't begin arriving until early 2007. Supply will be even tighter than for GT3, with both versions also nearly sold-out.

Next year Porsche is expected to reveal a facelifted version of its Cayenne SUV and an all-new 911 Turbo Cabriolet, which is likely to surface at Frankfurt in September 2007.

Spy shots of the former have already been published in Europe and Porsche has earmarked January's Detroit motor show (in the US, the world's largest Cayenne market) to host the reveal of its upgraded off-roader.

When the 2007 Cayenne range goes on sale Down Under next year, it's likely to finally include the entry-level V6 version, of which PCA managing director said at the original Australian Cayenne launch in July 2003: "it's in the drawer, if we need it." The current official line "never say never" and the fact Cayenne's midlife facelift is the perfect opportunity for PCA to introduce its first sub-$100,000 SUV make it likely the first Porsche V6 will also become the least expensive Porsche model on offer in Australia.

Simply dubbed Cayenne, the Volkswagen-sourced 184kW/310Nm 3.2-litre V6 variant weighs 2160kg and lopes to 100km/h in 8.6 seconds, and on to a top speed of 215km/h.

It will join cosmetically updated versions of the Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo, which currently produce 250kW/420Nm and 331kW/620Nm from their naturally-aspirated and turbocharged 4.5-litre V8s respectively.

Further afield, range-topping Turbo S and GT2 variants of the 911 are expected round out Porsche's current 997-series model cycle by 2008, while the maker's first four-door sedan - the Panamera - joins 911, Boxster/Cayman and Cayenne on sale globally in 2009 as Porsche's fourth model line.

What's coming from Porsche:
911 Turbo coupe	August
Cayman 2.7 coupe	October
Boxster convertible upgrade	October
911 GT3 coupe	December
911 Targa 4/Targa 4S	Late December
911 GT3 RS	Early 2007
Cayenne facelift/V6	2007
911 Turbo Cabriolet	Late 2007
911 Turbo S coupe	2008
911 GT2 coupe	2008
Panamera sedan	2009