The news that the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS will be making an appearance at the Paris Motor Show before arriving in showrooms by December should be followed soon by an announcement that there is to be a Limited Edition run of a 911 Speedster. But one step at a time.

As we reported in June, the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS is a wide-bodied (44mm wider at the back) 911 which will be the most powerful ‘regular’ model in the 911 range. And it will be the last model to arrive (limited editions excluded) in the current 997 range before the new 911 arrives in Autumn 2011.

The Carrera GTS keeps the regular, flat-six 3.8 litre lump but Porsche has coaxed an extra 23bhp to push the GTS output above 400bhp. 402bhp, to be precise. There’s also 310lb/ft of torque on tap at 4200rpm, a smidge earlier than in the Carrera S.

Performance varies depending on whether you stick with the manual ‘box, opt for the PDK (you should) or throw in the Sport Chrono Package Plus. At best, with the PDK ‘box and the Sport Chrono in Sport Plus mode you will get to 62mph in 4.2 seconds. Despite the extra performance you will still average 27.7mpg (no, you won’t) as the official economy figures are unchanged from the regular-fat Carrera S.

Cosmetically, apart from the wider stance, the Carrera GTS gets dual black tail pipes for the sports exhaust, 19″ RS Spyder alloys in gloss black, Sport design front bumper with black edge and black skirts. Oh, and a raft of GTS logos, of course.

The Porsche 911 Carrera GTS goes on sale in the UK in December, priced from £76,758 for the Coupe and £83,493 for the Cabriolet.

Not long after the announcement of the Enigma tuning kit for the award winning Audi R8 V10, Australian tuner RENM has also released details on a new RM580 tuning kit based on the Porsche 997 Turbo. The package comes with two stages of power upgrades that lead the sports car to a total output of 580 HP (up from the standard 500 HP) and 800 NM of torque. This power increase translates into a 0-60mph sprint in 3.1 seconds and a top speed of 201 mph (an increase of 7 mph compared to the standard 997 Turbo that can hit a top speed of 194 mph).

The RM580 package includes a new exhaust system made from T309 stainless steel, with sports catalytic converters, various suspension kits that lower ride and improve handling, and a set of three piece forged wheels with titanium fasteners. On the interior, the tuner opted for carbon fiber inserts and a revised steering wheel.

Although this may be a more complete package for the Porsche 997 Turbo, it would be quite interesting to compare numbers with the new aerodynamic package provided by Vorsteiner that includes an art dry carbon fiber vacuum technology. This technology allows for a stronger and stiffer bodykit that is also 40% lighter than the components used in the standard model. Unfortunately, Vorsteiner has not released the Porsche’s new performance numbers yet, so this will be a comparison that we will have to wait to see.

Specifications