Auto News 5

"Let's revert to the slab stern and high luggage compartment, the nearly vertical rear window, the leather strap and 'chunk of road machinery' feeling." That's from a multipage document describing the need for an American four-passenger sports car, a text leading to one of the most successful product launches Detroit ever enjoyed, Ford's April 1964 Mustang. Written in 1956, it was presented to -- and furiously rejected by -- Harley J. Earl, General Motors' styling chief. Its author, Barney Clark, wrote Corvette advertising copy at the time. A few years later, working for J. Walter Thompson on the Ford account, he talked with product planner Don Frey about it. Lee Iacocca may be the "father of the Mustang," but he got the notion via Frey and Clark, and thus indirectly from GM. Even the final 108-inch wheelbase was first determined by GM's Anatole Lapine, who subsequently became Porsche's design leader. Nothing's simple in the car-design business.

The Porsche 911 and Boxster/Cayman have become so closely related that it's difficult to tell where one model line ends and the other begins. That will begin to change when their replacements make their debut in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The new Boxster (981) and 911 (991) will again be under-the-skin siblings, but while the 911 remains the emphatically dynamic high-end model with a power output of up to 600 hp and with a strong emphasis on new six-cylinder boxer engines, the Boxster and Cayman will eventually shift toward four-cylinder power. In addition, last-minute changes to the design encouraged by the new bosses at Volkswagen are said to position the car more clearly. Positioning is indeed critical, as the new Boxster not only has to worry about the 911 above it, but also a whole family of smaller mid-engine cars below it, including one for Porsche.