Porsche has developed a budget sedan 30 years ago

15 August 2019

The Porsche firm in the 1990s, almost became a founder of the segment of low-cost

Budget sedans, as we know, started in the mid-2000s with the model Dacia (Renault) Logan, but is still the ten years before the this renowned firm Porsche (then it is not included in the composition of the Volkswagen Group – this story happened much later) to the Beijing motor show 1988 just over four months in the competition of the Chinese government to the creation of a compact sedan for Chinese families developed a prototype of a sedan Porsche С88.

Four-meter sedan with a width of 1.64 m with curb weight 980 kg was designed for five people, including one child. Its maximum speed was 165 km/h and the acceleration to hundreds took 16 s Abbreviation С88 was assigned to the vehicle via two reasons. So letter "C" can be attributed to different values: clean (clean), comfortable (comfortable), China (China) or also cheap (cheap). In addition, the number 88 in Chinese culture means "happy." Further, the anticipated price of the car was to be ¥88 thousand.

Ready front-wheel drive prototype with a 1.1-liter four (67 HP, 105 N·m), consuming 5.8 l/100 km, was presented on the Beijing auto show personally a Director of the company by Porsche Wendelin Wiedeking, who made its presentation for the Mandarin (i.e. the official) dialect of the Chinese language.

The car was supposed to learn in a joint venture with a local concern FAW, however, the project was rejected and not received. So, is Porsche, after experiencing the end of the 1980s, financial difficulties, lost his chance to become a founder of the low cost segment, in which is now come true millions of cars in China, India, Russia and other countries, including the European Union.