The Porsche 928 is a sports-GT car that was sold by Porsche AG of Germany from 1978 to 1995.

Originally intended to replace the company's iconic 911, the 928 combined the power, poise, and handling of a sports car with the refinement, comfort, and equipment of a luxury sedan to create what some Porsche executives thought would be a vehicle with wider appeal than the compact, quirky and sometimes difficult 911.

Since its inception in 1949, Porsche has manufactured only six front-engined models, four of which were coupes, including the 928.

Ordered by Ferry Porsche to come up with a production-feasible concept for his new model, Fuhrmann initiated a design study in 1971, eventually taking from the process the final specs for the 928.

Porsche engineers wanted a large-displacement motor to power the 928, and prototype units were built with a 5. 0 L V8 producing close to.

Porsche 928 headlights

Porsche 928 S4 interior

Porsche utilized a transaxle in the 928 to help achieve 50 / 50 front / rear weight distribution, aiding the car's balance.

Porsche 928 GTS rear quarter view

Porsche introduced a refreshed 928 S into the European market in 1979 model year, although it was summer of 1982 and MY 1983 before the model reached North America.

Porsche updated the North American 928 S for 1985, replacing the 4. 7 L SOHC engine with a new 5. 0 L DOHC unit sporting four valves per cylinder and producing 288 hp ( 215 kW / 292 PS ).

Porsche debuted the 928 GT in the late winter 1988 / 89 after dropping the slowly selling CS and SE.

Porsche 928 V8 engine

In production terms, the 924 was the first Porsche model powered by a water-cooled, front-mounted engine although the similarly configured 928 was designed first.

Porsche 924 928 944.

* Porsche 924 928 944, " The New Generation ".

As of 2009, Porsche has not yet built another front-engined sports car, although a 4-door sports-touring sedan, called Panamera began production in 2009, and a successor to the 928, based on that sedan's architecture, is predicted to follow.

Production of the 986 began at the former Porsche 928 facility in Stuttgart, Germany in 1996.

* September 28 – The Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Auto Convention.

DeLorean's vision has been further vindicated by the adoption of similar designs in a slew of modern high-performance cars, including the Porsche 928, the Corvette C5, and the Aston Martin DB9.

As he was training for a rematch with Laporte set for September, he crashed on the early morning of August 12, 1982, while driving his Porsche 928 sports car along the federal highway from Santiago de Querétaro to San Luis Potosí, dying instantly.

It is the first V8-engined vehicle built by Porsche since 1995, when the Porsche 928 was discontinued.

It's generally believed these Porsche Motorsport-engined cars have more hp than the S4.

For 1990 model year Porsche made RDK and a 0-100 % variable ratio limited-slip called PSD ( Porsche SperrDifferential ) standard in both GT and S4 models for all markets.

A few cars, notably the Alfa Romeo Alfetta, Porsche 924, and Chevrolet Corvette ( since 1997 ), sought a more even weight distribution between front and back by placing the weight of the transmission at the rear of the car, combined with the rear axle to form a transaxle.

Having the engine, transmission, catalytic converter ( s ) and exhaust all cramped into a small rear engine bay made emission and noise control more difficult, something Porsche was already facing problems with on the 911 and wanted to avoid.

The front-engine, rear wheel drive arrangement was normal for most other manufacturers, but it was unusual for Porsche having previously only used mid-or rear-mounted engines of a boxer configuration, all of which had been air-cooled.

Porsche chose a rear wheel drive layout and a rear-mounted transaxle for the design to help provide 48 / 52 front / rear weight distribution ; this slight rear weight bias aided both traction and brake balance.

Production of the Targa, complete with removable roof and heavy transparent plastic rear windows openable with a zipper ( later called ' Version I ' by Porsche and the ' soft-window Targa ' by enthusiasts ), commenced in December 1966 as a 1967 model.

In January 1968, Porsche also made available a Targa ' Version II ' option (' hard window Targa ') with fixed glass rear window, transforming the Targa into a coupe with removable roof.

Porsche already preferred the flat-four engine, and selected a swing axle rear suspension ( invented by Edmund Rumpler ), while Zündapp insisted on a water-cooled five-cylinder radial engine.

Porsche's sport coupes which were originally based on Volkswagen parts and platforms continue to use the classic rear engine layout ( which later became water-cooled ) in the Porsche 911 series, which remains competitive in the second decade of the 21st century.

VAZ 21099 4-dr saloon, rear view Despite NAMI ( National Automobile Institute ) having allowed the involvement of Porsche engineers in the engine development, the Samara never achieved the same success as the Riva, even though it did prove to be a robust car with a modern style and an initially competitive price.

The motor's distributed weight across the wheels, in a Porsche 911, provides excellent traction, but the significant mass behind the rear wheels makes it more prone to oversteer in some situations.

File: Box0706 1. jpg | Porsche Boxster, a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel ( RMR ) drive sports car

Cars such as the four-cylinder Volkswagen Beetle and the six-cylinder Porsche 911 use a flat-engine at the rear of the car, where its extra width does not interfere with the steering of the front wheels and there is a weight-saving since no prop-shaft is required.

In some cases ( e. g. Lancia Delta Integrale, Porsche 964 Carrera 4 of 1989 ) the centre differential is an epicyclic differential ( see below ) to divide the torque asymmetrically, but at a fixed rate between the front and rear axle.

Journalist David E. Davis, in a 2009 article in Automobile Magazine, criticized Nader for purportedly focusing on the Corvair while ignoring other contemporary vehicles with swing-axle rear suspensions, including cars from Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, notwithstanding the fact that Nader's Center for Auto Safety had published a book critical of the Beetle.

Similar to designs of European cars such as Porsche, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and others it used coil springs at all four wheels with independent rear suspension arms incorporated at the rear.

Journalist David E. Davis, in a 2009 article in Automobile Magazine, noted that despite Nader's claim that swing-axle rear suspension were dangerous, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen all used similar swing-axle concepts during that era.

The Porsche 904 rode on coil springs ( the first Porsche not to use trailing arm front and swingaxle rear suspension ), with unequal-length A-arms in front.