A sneaky artist’s impression has popped up on the Porsche website, fuelling rumours that a successor to the legendary 928 is being developed…

Since it ended production in 1995 there has been a large GT-shaped hole in Porsche’s lineup. The rear-engined 911, mid-engined Boxster & Cayman and front engined Cayenne certainly don’t fit the classic ‘Grand Tourer’ mould. But there was promise when Porsche launched the Panamera last year. A new adaptation of the Cayenne chassis, but in a road based car, it had a big V8 powerplant up front, and rear or four wheel drive. Finally there was a basis for a new GT.

The occasional odd-looking Panamera in prototype coverings has been spotted around Stuttgart recently which has added fuel to the fire. The basics are all there though. There is certainly a market for this type of car – see the Maserati Granturismo, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Mercedes SL/CL and Jaguar XKR. Porsche now have a front engined, rear wheel drive chassis, and a wealth of engines (V6 petrol and diesel, V8, Twin-Turbo V8 and V6 Hybrid) to use. The idea being that by spinning another model off the existing drivetrain and chassis, Porsche gets more out of the money they’ve invested in developing them.

One senior company source has admitted to Autocar magazine that the large three-door would be a “very nice” addition to the Porsche line-up. Engineers at Porsche are apparently frustrated with the limitations of the 911, as the engine cannot grow beyond 4.0 litres in it’s current guise, and  it’s position causes engineering compromises on the car.

A few magazines have come up with concept sketches of their interpretation of how the new 928 may look:

If you compare these with the image from Porsche, you can imagine what the new model may look like. But mainly, we just love the idea of this new car.

We also know that you BOTBNews readers love to speculate too, so please comment and let us know what you think of the new 928…