RETURN OF THE TARGA

“The really great thing is that the Targa concept is still around,” so says Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, head of 911 production at Porsche. At the digital premiere of the new Targa, Dr Walliser also confessed he thinks the 992 Targa is the most beautiful 911. He might have a point: you could argue that few other models, the Coupe included, can retain the absolute classic look of the very earliest 911 models, here encompassing that iconic roll hoop and wraparound glass screen, yet bringing it so convincingly into the modern age. It’s done in this case thanks to the most ingenious system of kinetics, which somehow manages to unfurl the Targa like a clamshell before tucking that fabric roof neatly out of sight past the 911’s rear seats.

The Targa is a looker alright, accounting for around 15 per cent of overall 911 sales in the model’s 57 years of existence. It’s for this reason Porsche has unveiled not one, not two, but three new Targa models for us to lust after.

First, Porsche dropped the Targa 4 and 4S, essentially fusing the 992’s body and chassis to the roof system carried over from