The Story of the Porsche 924

Like the Porsche 914, the Porsche 924 was originally a joint project between Porsche and Volkswagen. But after VW pulled out, Porsche turned this project into one of its most successful models. This is the story of the Porsche 924.

The Story of the Porsche 924

The story of the Porsche 924 began in the early 1970s when Volkswagen commissioned the development of a new sports coupe from Porsche. The engineers at Porsche’s research and development center in Weissach got to work and created project EA425. It was a four-cylinder sports car with 2+2 seats and a transaxle design. To make it cheap to run and maintain, it used many Volkswagen and Audi parts. For example, the four-cylinder engine was borrowed from the Audi 100.

The car was almost ready for production, when VW cancelled the EA425 project. Because of the internal reasons within the Volkswagen company, and especially the energy crisis of 1973, sports coupe wasn’t the car VW wanted into its model range.

New Entry-Level Sports Car

Porsche now had four-cylinder sports car which was almost ready for production. At the same time, Porsche needs a new entry-level model to replace the 914. So Porsche bought the project from VW. And when it became a Porsche project, it got a new development code 924. The production of the Porsche 924 started in 1976. It was manufactured at Audi factory in Neckarsulm.

Although using Audi parts, the Porsche 924 was designed to be a real Porsche sports car. Featuring the transaxle design, with the engine at the front and the transmission at the, the car had a near 50/50 weight balance. It also featured the first water-cooled engine in a Porsche. The two-litre, four-cylinder, in-line engine with an overhead camshaft and a K-Jetronic injection produced 92 kW (125 hp) at 5,800 rpm. The performane was quite impressive as well. The 924 could accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in in 10.5 seconds and reach a top speed of over 200 km/h.

924 Became a Success

The 924 was a success for Porsche. As a sports car, the 924 was fairly cheap to run and maintain. Younger car buyers were especially intrigued by the 924. For many, it was their first sports car. The success of the 924 was important for the company, as it started the Porsche’s transaxle era. The 924 was followed by the Porsche models 928, 944 and 968.

After introducing the 944, Porsche planned to discontinue the 924 in 1985. However, the 944 was a bit more expensive, so they decided to keep this entry-level model. But the aging 924 needed an update. So what Porsche did, was they took the 2.5-litre engine from the 944 and created the 924 S. Porsche also created the 924 Turbo for those who thought the original 924 lacked power.

The Porsche 924 S was available until 1988. A total of over 150,000 Porsche 924 models were produced.

Read also:
Story of the Porsche 914

Images by Porsche