Porsche 911 Carrera GTS arrives in official pics

Porsche has launched a Carrera GTS version of its latest 911, offering more power and handling upgrades.

    Porsche has today announced the second generation of the 911 Carrera GTS, joining the Boxster and Cayman GTS in its sports car line-up. The GTS is available to order now, priced from £91,098.

    Although there was no official unveiling at the Paris Motor Show last week, Porsche has put the GTS straight on sale, contrary to earlier reports predicting a release at the end of the year.

    There will be four GTS versions of the latest 991-generation 911: a coupe and a Cabriolet, in either rear-wheel drive or Carrera 4 all-wheel-drive guise. The GTS coupe is £91,098 and the Cabriolet £99,602, with four-wheel drive adding £4,782 to the price of each car.

    The fantastic 3.8-litre flat-six engine from the standard Carrera S has been boosted by 30bhp in the GTS, to 430bhp. Porsche has also fitted the Sport Chrono package as standard, bringing dynamic engine mounts and Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) dampers, lowering the ride height by 10mm.

    The changes mean a GTS coupe with the PDK twin-clutch auto box can sprint from 0-62mph in an impressive four seconds (4.2 seconds for the Cabriolet), and all variants can now top 186mph. Despite this, Porsche claims that fuel economy and emissions remain unchanged from the Carrera S, at 32.5mpg and 202g/km for the PDK model (29.7mpg and 223g/km for the manual).

    Exterior changes are, as you'd expect from Porsche, subtle but tasteful. All versions get the wider Carrera 4 body, with flared arches and an extended track, plus gorgeous 20-inch matt black alloy wheels. New front trim with a slightly deeper spoiler and some GTS badging also feature, as do black chrome-plated tailpipes.

    There are bi-xenon headlights and a new air intake grille, too, as well as a standard sports exhaust system that Porsche says gives an "unmistakable GTS sound".

    Inside, the GTS is marked out by exclusive Alcantara trim around the door panels and centre console, plus leather sports seats. Sat-nav is standard, too, as you would expect for the price.

    Porsche didn't offer a GTS version of the previous 997-generation 911 until its last year in production, which makes this hastily launched model all the more confusing. Perhaps Porsche was worried Mercedes' new AMG GT coupe was hogging the limelight?