Porsche developing a new eight-cylinder engine for its upcoming Ferrari 458 rival

Porsche for years has stuck to the tried and tested formula of flat-six engines for its sports car. However, some Porsche engineers had apprehensions that their classic six-cylinder engine may not be competent enough to take on the Ferraris using eight-cylinder engines. Now, it is rumoured that Porsche is developing a new flat-eight engine for its upcoming Ferrari 458 rival.

The unnamed model is rumoured to bear the development codename of ‘988’ and is expected to wear styling similar to the 918 hyper car. It might get a 4.0-litre flat-eight engine with quad-turbochargers and is expected to produce 600bhp and torque higher than 550Nm. The power output of this new engine from Porsche that way is more powerful than the 458 Italia’s which makes 561bhp. However, Ferrari is also working on a turbocharged 458 Italia which might see a significant bump in power figures.

Porsche is also working on a new platform that will underpin all its sports cars with either mid-engine or rear-engine layouts. This new platform might also be the base for the next-gen Lamborghini Aventador. Along with this, Porsche is also working on a slew of new naturally aspirated and turbocharged engines to come in flat-four, six and eight-cylinder layouts.

The new Porsche sports car is expected to go on sale in 2017 in the international markets and we can expect an India launch within six months of its global debut.

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Source: ACI