15 Facts About Porsche 944

Porsche 944 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1982 until 1991.

Cancellation of the EX-425 program led Porsche 944 to market an entry level car to replace the 912E, which was a US-only stop-gap model for 1976, and their version of the 914, which was discontinued in 1975.

Porsche 944 purchased the design and the finished development mule with a Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical fuel injection system from Volkswagen.

In 1979, Porsche 944 introduced a Turbocharged version of the 924 to increase performance, but this model carried a high price.

Rather than scrapping the model from its line-up, Porsche decided to develop the 944, as they had done with generations of the 911; although model numbers would change, the 924 would provide the basis for this new mid level model.

Related searches

In 1982, Porsche debuted the production road legal version of the race car, called the 944.

Porsche 944 spent some time trying to develop their own system, but when they realised that they could not improve on the system developed by Mitsubishi, they chose to pay the licensing fees rather than come up with a variation just different enough to circumvent the patent.

Interior wise, the North American variant of the 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo became the first production car in the world to be equipped with driver and passenger side air bags as standard equipment.

The Porsche 944 S2 received a revised transmission and gearing to better suit the 3.

The Porsche 944 S2 had the same rounded nose and a rear valance found on the Turbo model.

Porsche 944 initially announced that 600 cars would be made; ultimately 625 were built, 100 of which were right-hand drive for the United Kingdom, Japanese, Australian, and South African markets.

In early 1990, Porsche engineers began working on what they had intended to be the third evolution of the 944, the S3.

Cosmetically the “SE” was fitted with Porsche 944 colour matched “Porsche 944 Sport” steering wheel, Bi-plane rear spoiler, SE side decals and rear badging.

Successor to the Porsche 944 was the 968, which was introduced in the 1992 model year and was based on an evolution of the same front-engine, transaxle platform of the Porsche 944.

Porsche 944 was on Car and Driver's Ten Best list from 1983 through 1985, and the Turbo made the list for 1986.