2012 Porsche 911 Cabriolet debut

The new Porsche 911 is always an exciting time in the automotive industry; it is an icon. At the Los Angeles International Auto Show, the next-generation 2012 Porsche 911 debuted at the American Auto Show for the first time.

That wasn’t the first time it was in the United States altogether though; in October Porsche brought the 911 to the Rennsport Reunion IV at Laguna Seca. The 911 Cabriolet makes its debut today, indicating Porsche is looking to quickly ramp up sales of the new model. It has a unique new soft top design though that Porsche says saves weight. While other companies like Ferrari offer a retractable hardtop model, Porsche has opted to stick with a soft-top to save weight. It isn’t a traditional soft-top though.

The 911 Cabriolet has a design that ditches the layered fabric construction of the previous model. Instead, the 2012 (or most likely a 2013) Porsche 911 Cabriolet has a composite canvas that is stretched over a magnesium frame.

Magnesium is a lightweight material, and it follows an intense effort to reduce weight on the new 911, despite being larger. It has another, very important aesthetic function though. For the first time, Porsche says the 911 Cabriolet will have the same classic roofline as the coupe model. This is big! It is one of the reasons we have never really been a fan of convertibles.

Convertible models look great from top to bottom, but they tend to look sloppy at the top; this must have been the case with the 911 in the past. The Cabriolet has the same engine options as the coupe, which means that the standard 3.4-liter flat six-cylinder engine can output 350 horsepower. The basic Carrera Cabriolet starts at $97,300, while the Turbo S starts at $108,800. Check out the gallery below and the promotional video of the latest and greatest 911 convertible.