Did you know that the 911 was not the only Porsche to be so named due to a conflict with Peugeot over numbers with a central “0”? The same was true for the Carrera GTS and Carrera 6. However, some racing Porsches used names belonging to Peugeot. Decryption.
The Porsche 904, produced in around 120 units between 1963 and 1965, was designed for competition. It was equipped with an aerodynamic body in fiberglass on a ladder frame, and animated first by a four-cylinder flat from the 356 before recovering the flat-six of the first 911. The regulations of the time for GT racing and the design of the car allowed Porsche to have it approved for road use. Since then, the official communication of the manufacturer no longer mentions it under the name 904 but Porsche Carrera GTS, making the coupe the brand’s first car to have these three letters meaning “Gran Turismo Sport”. A name change due to Peugeot!
When Peugeot influences the names of Porsches
You probably know the story of the name change of the most famous Porsche, presented as the number 901 at the 1963 Geneva Motor Show and then changed to 911 when it was commercially launched in 1964 after Peugeot asserted its rights to the three-digit numerical names. including a “0” in their center. If Porsche was first able to present the 904 with this name, it is because it was its internal type number. and a racing car, while the dispute with Peugeot was over the commercial designation of the vehicles. The same was true for the 1966 Porsche 906 / Carrera 6.
Today, the GTS coat of arms inaugurated by the 904 designates at Porsche mid-range models focused on sporty driving, located between the S models and the Turbo or GT. On the 911 for example, the Carrera GTS tops the Carrera offer.
Peugeot and Porsche, crossed stories
Porsche was able to run some cars under their type number including a central “0”, when the cars in question had no road approval, such as the 804 and 907. Porsche even entered in the late 1960s a 908, a name that was used for Peugeot’s LMP1 heir to the 905 in the 2000s. Porsche also had its 909, a 1968 tray weighing just 384 kg for 275 hp.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons Peugeot’s new endurance prototype was dubbed 9X8. This also keeps the car in the current nomenclature of the manufacturer’s “8” range and highlights its all-wheel drive. This French hypercar will have a Porsche with a name still unknown among its rivals in 2023 in the world endurance championship. And to answer the question you may be asking yourself, it is Peugeot which holds the rights to commercial use of the 902 and 903 brands, like other “x0x” numbers.
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