Today’s rumors have a Porsche -badged, VW-based hatch coming to market by as early as 2012. While this is not likely to happen, especially with the recent ruling of a German court upholding the controversial so-called ‘VW Law,’ the idea does appeal to some German sports car and hot hatch enthusiasts.
According to AutoBild magazine’s latest cover, the text of which literally translates to “compact secret projects until 2012. The Porsche -Golf,†the car will become reality. This implies the hatchback would be based on the Rabbit/Golf platform, and there are a few basic things wrong with this picture. For one, the platform underpins front-wheel drive cars — granted, the Golf R32 makes do with all-wheel drive — which is a layout Porsche has never utilized. Many would see this as sacrilege for Germany’s traditional sports car maker, which earned its reputation as the maker of rear-drive, rear-engine cars. Second, it would likely also eschew the maker’s flat-six engine as a powerplant due to packaging reasons.
If the project does happen, and we doubt that, it will have many critics and repercussions, not the least of which would be one less VW executive.
The last time Porsche and VW collaborated on a sports car was the Porsche 914, last produced in 1976 in the U.S.
