(from Auto Motor Sport © Motor Presse Stuttgart)
Forward Ho, Into the Mud!
olkswagen chief Ferdinand Piech and
Porsche boss Wendlin Wiedking share a common amusement: Both of them drive
a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Now they also share a common plan: Together they want to build an
offroad vehicle. The goal: "I want the suspensions fully
offroad-capable - not just partly" as engineering visioneer Piech explains.
Piech's ideal: "On top of the suspension I want a bodywork which is
sedan or wagon-like" - the car has to be even better than the Grand Cherokee.
The new VW Transporter platform previously should be used for the common
ride of VW and porsche. (Also see the article
Off-roader
from VW.) After all the the trouble with Mercedes' new A-Class tilting
over in tests simulating an accident with an elk or deer, Piech is in doubt
of high-lifted offroaders. "They may also tilt over when used in terrain"
says the chairman. The Audi "allroad" A6 avant quattro is closer to
Piech's imaginations. (See The Audi
allroad quattro® study
)
The result: parallel to a high-lifted 4x4 (based on the Transporter) there is an other project with modified requirements: lower than a Cherokee but significantly higher than a regular 4WD wagon or sedan. Ground clearance shall be slightly less than 20cm. Even the approach angle shall be comparable to regular off-road vehicles. The newer deveopments will be based on an A8 platform.
Both concepts have features in common: For offroad use power will be provided on all four wheels and at up to 400 HP. They are not just thinking about the use of the new VW W12 engine, which had been showed on last years Tokyo Motor Show. A V10 TDI might be an adequate all-terrain power-plant. The Porsche version is expected to do 250 kmh on an autobahn (150 mph!)
Porsche officials are stll discussing basic design features, like whether the new vehicle should look similar to the Porsche sports cars or more like a 'real' offroad vehicle. The sales figures of the Lincoln Navigator make it clear that strong luxury offroaders can be a commercial success and so Porsche plans to sell 20,000 to 30,000 of their sports-utility-vehicle starting in the year 2001.
See the
original article (in German).