Porsche Has Had Enough With the Horsepower Already

By adpock - May 26, 2015

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Am I the only one who’s afraid to drive some of the cars coming out these days? I’m not a bad driver, when I’m paying attention, but some of the horsepower numbers coming across the line nowadays are just too much car for me.

Wow, that really felt liberating to say.

Before you go calling me soft, please keep in mind that I’m not the only one denouncing horsepower. In fact, I’ve got a pretty big ally on my side. According to Wired, Porsche, one of the proudest purveyors of power in history, is calling “for an end to the horsepower war.”

The Wired story is based on something Andreas Preuninger, Porsche’s GT-car chief, recently told Car:

“I’m not a believer in this horsepower monster, up, up, up, more, more, more. For my personal tastes, around 500 hp is enough, because 700-800 hp calls for bigger brakes, sturdier suspension. It gets heavier and heavier logically.”

Certainly, automakers are merely reacting to the market place’s never-quenched thirst for power. So for a Porsche exec to basically tell the public no, that’s kind of a big deal.

But the question is, is this good news for Lexus, considering their own power image isn’t exactly Schwarzenneger-like? Club Lexus member gyrase321 seems to think so, as he states in the thread posted about the Wired article:

“Lexus gets bashed a lot for making cars with ‘weak’ engines (relative to the Germans). Just look at the bashing the RCF gets from the automotive press. They want Lexus to join the horsepower/torque wars against the Germans. But even Porsche sees the folly in this horsepower/torque obsession. What good is a 700hp beast when you are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic?”

What do you think? Is this a reasonable argument? Do the new Lexus F machines make plenty of power already, and Lexus is smart enough not to play that game?

Either way, Porsche definitely seems to be over the “horsepower war,” and will instead be relying on lighter weight and better engineering. Perhaps if Lexus can get the first part of that equation right, the F team could be poised for big things in an era of horsepower detente.