It is hard to imagine now, but the Porsche 928 was the car that was supposed to replace the 911…. Fortunately, that never happened….
What if I were to say aloud today the idea of replacing the iconic Porsche 911 with a grand tourer with a V8 engine up front…? …!

By the late 1960s, Porsche had established itself as a manufacturer of high performance sports cars, but the poor sales of the 911 series, affected by the oil shocks of the 1970s, shook the company’s management, including owner Ferdinand Porsche. Concerned that the potential of the flagship 911 had reached its limits, the management, including owner Ferdinand Porsche, concluded that the future of the company lay not in “outlandish sports cars” but in “grand touring cars,” and the 911 was to be the pioneering flagship model to survive the rapidly advancing 1980s. Packed with design and top-of-the-line technology, we developed the 928, a grand tourer….

The body was designed by Wolfgang Moebius under the guidance of Anatole Lapine. The main body is made of galvanized steel, but the doors, front wings, front fenders, and hood are made of aluminum to reduce weight….
The luggage space, which did not exist in the 911, is large…and is accessible from the hatchback, which opens wide…. In an era when steel bumpers were still the norm, the newly developed polyurethane elastic bumpers were beautifully integrated into the nose and tailpipes and painted in the same color as the body, contributing greatly to a more aesthetically pleasing appearance and reduced aerodynamic drag. In addition, the most distinctive feature, the pop-up headlamps integrated into the front wings, was based on the mechanism of the Lamborghini Miura….

The 928 also incorporated the world’s first technology whereby the entire instrument cluster moved with the adjustable steering wheel for maximum visibility of the instruments. The Weissach axle system, the world’s first rear-wheel steering system, and the newly designed all-alloy M28 V8 engine, which is both lightweight and highly durable, are the result of highly advanced technology and innovative ideas….

The development of the first water-cooled V8 engine to replace the 911…. The “all-all-alloy M28 V8 engine”, which was developed using all the technology available, has several unique features…. The 122mm bore spacing is achieved by using thick aluminum cylinder barrels and no steel liners…. The engine was designed with priority given to air flow to keep the hood line low and reduce aerodynamic drag, and the spark plugs were placed in the upper part of the head. The bearings themselves were supported by a large lower block integrated structure, and an aluminum cast oil pan was bolted to this section….

Porsche’s design and development efforts on the 928 won the Grand Prix award in 1978, beating out luxury sedans such as the BMW 7 Series in the European Car of the Year awards, which were reserved for hatchbacks, sedans, and saloon cars from major European manufacturers. In fact, the Porsche 928 was the only grand tourer ever to win the Grand Prix in this award…! This fact proves how advanced and innovative the Porsche 928 was….

The Porsche 928, which was developed with the aim of revolutionizing the manufacturer, was not a “blockbuster” in terms of sales volume due to its high selling price, but Porsche’s manufacturing and design innovations to this point were enough to win enthusiastic fans all over the world. It was enough to win enthusiastic fans all over the world…!

The Porsche 928 was produced for the next 18 years until 1995. Today, nearly 40 years later, the Porsche 928 has become a neo-classic, a car that has had a profound influence on future automobile design.