Porsche recently announced plans to produce approximately 1,000 Porsche Carrera GTs to be introduced in the second half of 2003. The Porsche Carrera GT is a high performance road car, which defines the limits of sports car engineering; as light and as powerful as possible. The cars will be built at the company's new production facility in Leipzig, German, next the all new Cayenne. With an estimated 555+bhp and a top speed of over 200mph, the Carrera GT gives Porsche an extremely competitive edge in teh exotic car market.The Carrera GT's development can be traced back to a Porsche successor to the 911 GT1-98 and LMP1-98 racing cars that had ended after the 1998, partially due to FIA and ACO rule changes. Porsche at the time had planned on a new Le Mans prototype for 1999. The car was initially intended to use a
turbocharged flat-6, but was later redesigned to use a new V10 engine, pushing the project back to planned competition in 2000. The V10 was a unit secretly built by Porsche for the Footwork Formula One team in 1992, but later shelved. The engine was resurrected for the Le Mans prototype and increased in size to 5.5 litres. Unfortunately the project was cancelled shortly before the first car could be completed in the middle of 1999, mostly due to Porsche's wish to build the Cayenne SUV with involvement from Volkswagen and Audi, thus requiring engineering expertise to be pulled from the motorsports division. It was also speculated that VW-Audi chairman Ferdinand Piëch wanted Audi's new Le 
mans Prototype, the Audi R8 not to face competition from Porsche in 2000.Porsche did keep part of the project alive by using the 5.7L V10 from the prototype in a concept car shown at the 2000 Geneva Motor Show, mainly in an attempt to draw attention to their display. Surprising interest in the vehicle and an influx of revenue provided by the Cayenne helped Porsche decide to produce the car, and development started on a road-legal version that would be produced in small numbers at Porsche's new manufacturing facility in Leipzig. Porsche started a production run of Carrera GTs in 2004, shipping the units with an MSRP of $440,000 USD and a dealer invoice price of approximately $414,800 USD. In addition, the delivery charge could be as much as $15,000 USD. The first Carrera GT went on sale in the US on Jan 31, 2004.Originally a production run of 1,500 cars was planned. But Porsche announced in August,
2005 that it would not continue production of the Carrera GT through 2006. Porsche announced that this discontinuation was due to changing airbag regulations in the US. However, diminishing sales volumes, relatively high dealer inventory levels, and dealer discounts below MSRP were reported by the automotive press to be the true factors driving an early end to the production run[citation needed]. Despite the early end to production, worldwide sales of the Carrera GT surpassed the combined totals of the Enzo Ferrari, the Mclaren F1, and the Pagani Zonda.As of May 6, 2006, 1,270 GT's had been sold, with 604 being sold in the United States.
Porsche Carrera GT Specifications:
Make and Model: Porsche Carrera GT
Year: 1907
Engine Type: 6-litre V10
Torque: 330lb-ftlb-ft@rpm
Acceleration 0-60: under 4 s
Suspension: Double Wishbone
Wheel Base: 106.3 inches
List Price: $350,000
Horsepower: 558bhp@8200rpm
Top Speed: 205+ mph
Brakes: Monobloc fixed calipers
Transmission: 6-speed Manual
Weight: 2755 lbs