I'm sure Porsche has meticulous record keeping along with tight, pre-planned production schedules that are set potentially years in advance, so this should not be a surprise to me. I'm always still a little surprised though when they announce different production milestones like this.

The milestone this time around is the 25,000th Porsche Panamera. It's a Ruby Red Panamera with the 3.6 liter 6-cylinder engine. A lucky US customer will be the recipient of the milestone marker car. I wonder if they'll receive any kind of certificate or special plaque with the car?

Here's what truly amazing. It took Porsche less than a year to build 25,000 Panamera Gran Turismos. I find that very impressive given that the Panamera represents an entry into a completely different category for Porsche and thus uncharted territory.

Also in the press release was a reminder that Porsche will introduce a Panamera model featuring hybrid technology. It will use a hybrid drive system similar to what powers the 2011 Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid. It's to go on sale this fall.

[Source & Image: Press.Porsche.com]

This reminds me of a showdown Top Gear put together a couple of years ago that pitted a Porsche Cayenne Turbo against a Red Devil Parachuter (Porsche Cayenne Turbo vs. Red Devil Parachuter Race). Only this one is a bit more outrageous. Now, of course you can guess this isn't a test of pure speed, but instead of urban capabilities as the race "track" consists of the surface streets of Manhattan during rush hour traffic.

On one side, you have a gorgeous $161,000 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet. On the other, a $6,000 Vespa GTS (GTS? Really???). Which will emerge as king of über urban driving? Here's a video available on Bloomberg BusinessWeek documenting the showdown:

A dang exciting day yesterday! As anticipated, the Porsche Supervisory Board green lighted the production of the Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid during it's meeting yesterday. The car will be developed in Weissach and assembled in Zuffenhausen. This is in line with Porsche's recent commitment to Germany as it's manufacturing base.

Michael Macht had this to say: "Production of the 918 Spyder in a limited series proves that we are taking the right approach with Porsche Intelligent Performance featuring the combination of supreme performance and efficient drivetrain concepts."

Very cool and I'm pumped! I assumed Porsche would end up building the 918 Spyder, but it's great that it's now official. I can't wait to see how the car is received by reviewers and more importantly how this impacts future technology that will make it into the more common production cars.

[Source & Image: Press.Porsche.com]

Car reviews oftentimes are a dime a dozen. Seems like most of the comments, conclusions and thoughts on the cars reviewed are recycled from one journalist to the next. Not so today.

I've come across a couple of reviews that are darn near polar opposites of each other. The first can't get over how crappy the top is and berates the car for not having create comforts…the entire POINT of the Spyder distinction in my opinion. The second goes so far as to call the Porsche Boxster Spyder a candidate for the best car of the year, possibly the "best-handling car in history" AND if you purchase one, quite possibly "the best decision you could make in 2010."

Joe, one of our long standing PorschePerfect.com readers, sent me a link this weekend to a Wall Street Journal review of the Porsche Boxster Spyder. The reviewer gets hung up on the canvas top and all is lost from there. Nothing about the Boxster Spyder is good enough for him.

On the other end of the spectrum is a glowing review done by Esquire.com nominating the Boxster Spyder for Car of the Year. They make some pretty bold statements about the car and it's qualities.

Both are worth a quick read. You can find each here:

WSJ.com: Porsche Boxster Spyder: A Top That Scrapes the Bottom

Esquire.com: Is the Porsche Boxster Spyder the Car of the Year?

[Image: Press.Porsche.com]

I've mentioned before that I'm a big watch fan. I'm not any sort of a collector, but I appreciate a fine time piece and would love to have the means to buy one or two on my list. You can guess, then, that I'm all for any reason that comes up for Porsche Design to create a special edition watch. This is a heck of an occasion.

Porsche won their first Le Mans 40 years ago in an amazing 1-2-3 finish with Hans Hermann and Richard Attwood piloting their 917 K to a first place finish. The Porsche Design P'6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Limited Edition watch pays tribute to the winning 917.

The face of the watch is styled after the dashboard instruments of the Porsche 917 K with white indices, a black background and red hands and accents. The car's number, 23, adorns the face, just as it did the long-tail of the car. Around the bezel is a tachometer scale that can be used to calculate overall speed. The case is a brushed and polished titanium. A perforated calfskin strap with red topstitching reminiscent of the 917's steering wheel completes the look.

Only 917 watches will be offered. Each comes with a scale model of the 917 K and a booklet signed by Herrmann and Attwood. I couldn't find a price it will be offered at.

I love the look of this watch and would gladly wear one if I could afford it. My guess is it will be priced in the high 4 figures though.

[Via Porsche Design]

I happened on a post on Autoblog.com this weekend about the Porsche 911 Sport Classic. The title of it was "2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic is proof that money really can buy happiness." Classic! Judging just from the video I posted a few months ago (911 Sport Classic Video), I'd have to agree. Based on styling alone, I absolutely love this car.

The Porsche 911 Sport Classic was announced late in 2009 as a limited production car with all 250 units quickly being snatched up by buyers. No cars were officially produced for North America. I'm sure some made it here regardless. The Sport Classic is finished in a gray paint called Sport Classic Grey with a great Espresso Nature based interior. Lots of little extras were included on the Sport Classic including the engine "Powerkit", PCCB, flared turbo fenders and a sweet throw back ducktail spoiler.

A couple of things that stand out in my mind aside from the typical stuff already mentioned. First are the subtle racing stripes running down the middle of the car. Those are classy looking and I love how you have to do a double take to figure out if they're shadows or something actually on the car. My buddy's Porsche Cayman Design Edition has those. They really set the car off in my opinion.

The second thing is the special design used in the middle of the seat bottoms, seat backs and door inserts. It's a woven pattern Porsche calls "woven leather." They describe it as a "special material woven out of strips of leather and yarn strengthened by a lining at the bottom." Little touches like that in these special edition cars just bolster their desirability in my book.

The Autoblog.com post is definitely worth reading, especially since they compare the Sport Classic to the normal 911 Carrera S and the 911 GT3. This is definitely a Porsche for the Ultimate Car List.

Read the Autoblog.com post here: 2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic is proof that money really can buy happiness.

[Source & Images: Autoblog.com]

Ezra Dyer, a writer for Automobile Magazine, took a Porsche 911 Turbo to the Spectre 341 Challenge this year. Originally organized by Hans Turner during his stint as the president of the Ferrari Owners Club of Southern California in the 1970's, the Spectre 341 is a 5.2 mile hill climb up Nevada Highway 341. The goal is to tackle 6,200 feet of elevation through 22 turns in a time of 3:41 or less. That requires an average speed of 85 mph.

I love the embedded screen showing alternate views during the run. He makes the entire thing look pretty dang simple. Great video overall.

New Porsche CEO – I guess I've been living under a rock for the last week. I didn't realize that this inevitable transition had already taken place. Looks like Michael Macht got "promoted" (I didn't realize moving a person from CEO to a lesser position could be considered a promotion) to Volkswagen AG's production chief starting Oct 1st. Matthias Mueller has been crowned as the new Porsche AG CEO. Here's what VW CEO, Martin Winkerkorn, had to say about the transition: “We have to make progress with Porsche. Mueller is the right person to deliver it. He has excellent ideas and a very clear concept of how new products have to be brought in line.” He did a good job with Audi. Maybe this will bode well for Porsche. [Via BusinessWeek.com]

Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid and 'baby' Porsche Cayenne could be approved next week – Porsche SE's supervisory board is meeting next week. Supposedly on the agenda are two models we've been hearing about for a while. The mini Porsche Cayenne I could go either way on, however the Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid I would LOVE to see go into production. It's already garnered a reported 2,000+ non-binding submissions of interest, so I can't imagine Porsche will pass up the opportunity. Porsche is not confirming or denying the meeting nor the agenda, so hopefully we see this happen and have a new Porsche supercar to look forward to. [Via Bloomberg.com, egmCarTech.com]

Porsche will guarantee 9,000 jobs for German workers – You gotta love seeing news like this, especially given the ups and huge downs of the job market these days. Porsche stated last week that it is planning to invest more than 500 million euros in its German operations and guarantee 9,000 jobs at three German sites until 2015. This also includes hiring 100 apprentices per year at the end of their training periods. Never heard of a company guaranteeing jobs before, but maybe it's a common occurrence. [Via AFP]

UK Porsche dealer offers customers something different while waiting for their Porsche to be serviced – Car dealers the world over try to make it easy and enticing to get your car serviced with them. The fact of the matter is, though, it just sucks to have to sit and wait for your car. It's especially tough for moms who have to take in the family Porsche Cayenne. To address this problem, a dealer in the UK is taking a different approach. They're now offering a shuttle service to a nearby luxury shopping center for customers that would rather do something other than sit in the dealer's showroom during a service appointment. Gotta hand it to them, that's a great idea and one that will surely be popular with the ladies who have to manage the family's Porsche maintenance. [Via Springwise.com]

2011 Porsche Cayenne is selling like hotcakes – In just one month, Porsche received over 16,000 orders for the new Porsche Cayenne. This includes orders across all of the Cayenne models. The most popular model was the Cayenne S Hybrid which accounted for about 15% of the orders. Quite honestly, this surprises me. I know the Cayenne is a reasonably popular Porsche and that the new S Hybrid brings some short-term hype to the game, but that's a lot of orders for a Porsche SUV. [Via 4WheelsNews.com]

Porsche owners rank their cars as the Ideal Vehicle for the 3rd year in a row – Every year, AutoPacific conducts an Ideal Vehicle Awards survey. What exactly IS an ideal vehicle? According to the president of AutoPacific, George Peterson, "An ideal vehicle is one that meets the owner's expectations for the product. They do not want it changed. They don't want it bigger. They don't want it faster. They don't want its styling changed. When asked what they would change about their new vehicle, buyers who want the least change are driving their ideal vehicle. This means Porsche has created cars that owners essentially say are perfect." What's more, the Porsche Cayman was chosen as the winner of the Ideal Sports Car. No surprise here. [Via PRNewswire.com]

India may get some Porsche assembly love – I found this pretty interesting for a couple of reasons. First, that seems like an interesting choice for Porsche, especially given the recent commitment to the local facilities in Germany. Sure Porsche has outsourced some components of the car manufacture and assembly process in the past, but this seems like a strange location for it. Second, I'm surprised Porsche hasn't considered India in the past. With the huge outsourcing trend from a decade ago, I kind of thought Porsche would capitalize on inexpensive labor sooner. The CEO of Porsche India is denying any assembly plant plans. [Via IndiaTimes.com]

Thanks to Lyndon, one of our PorschePerfect.com readers, for sending this link over. Some of the numbers tuners are getting out of the Porsche 911 are just mind boggling. When you start getting up to 600, 700, 800 or even 1,000 horsepower, you're talking a world most of us will never experience. I can't imagine having that much power on tap. Maybe some of you can shed light on what it would even be like to drive a car with that much power on the open road.

In typical tuner fashion, Sportec has taken an already great car and attempted to squeeze top tier supercar performance out of it. Here's a few of the upgrades for the 2010 Sportec SPR1R:

• 858 hp bi-turbo, 3.6 liter, 24 valve flat six
• All wheel drive
• Weight reduction (even over previous SPR1 upgrades) across key componenets
• Driver adjustable traction control system controlled by a touch screen in the center console
• 0-62 mph in 3.0 seconds
• 236 mph top speed
• Various interior and exterior modifications including 20" forged alloy wheels

This is a nice looking car and one heck of a power monster. Leave it to the Swiss to push the limits of the capabilities of these cars.

[Via GlobalMotors.net]