2013 Porsche Boxster
The 2016 Porsche 550 is planned as an "entry-level" model that will slot below the Boxster in Porsche's lineup. Click here to see pictures of the 2012 Porsche Boxster, shown here.
Europe’s financial crisis has put a question mark on timing for the long-rumored “baby Boxster,” in large part due to the delay in approving the Volkswagen 2-seater on which it will be based. But unless the global economy tanks again, the new entry-level “550” is probably going to happen, and it promises to be another crackerjack mid-engine Porsche.

What It Is

The 2016 Porsche 550 is one of three new rear/mid-engine two-seat roadsters being planned by parent Volkswagen Group for mid- to late-decade debuts. The others are a VW version patterned on the 2008 BlueSport concept (and which might use that name), and an Audi R4 intended as a smaller, more-affordable running mate to that premium brand’s flagship R8 sports car. All are based on the Group’s new purpose-designed MMB platform (also reported as MSS) and will thus share a basic format, certain under-skin componentry, and perhaps a few major dimensions. Even so, Britain’s Autocar magazine reports that each model will have its own exterior and interior styling, powertrains, suspension tuning, features, and pricing so as not to cannibalize sales from one another.

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Early insider reports had led Consumer Guide to predict a 2012-model rollout for the R4 and 2013-model intros for the VW and Porsche (the latter once rumored as “New 356”). However, the entire MMB program was pushed back for various reasons, not the least of which was VW’s acquisition of Porsche AG back in 2009. (A formal takeover is still pending, due to lingering lawsuits over shady stock dealing that needn’t bother us here.) Since then, MMB development has been transferred from VW division to Porsche, along with responsibility for the Group’s future sports-car architectures and some major components.

But now the MMB program faces a possible second delay, due to the European sovereign-debt crisis and the prospect of another downturn in the global car market. Porsche CEO Matthias Müeller has lately said as much. As U.S. trade weekly Automotive News reported, Müeller told Financial Times Deutschland in early November 2011 that “The financial crisis is real and we need to see how far it develops into an economic crisis. If this happens and it leads to a cooling of the auto industry, then this would certainly impact our strategy.''

Interestingly, Britain’s CAR magazine had reported that the MMB program--known within VW Group as Project Mimo (short for mittelmotor or mid-engine)--was not yet approved as of September 2011. Two months later, however, Müeller told Automotive News Europe that the 550 would start sale no sooner than the third quarter of 2014 and probably later. Did he mean to imply that MMB/Mimo has finally been greenlighted? It doesn’t sound that way based on reporting by Autocar in early January 2012. They quote VW development chief Ulrich Hackenberg as saying the project has yet to be released because the company isn’t sure if they can sell enough of the small sports cars. We assume that means the projected sales volume can’t support the program’s required investment. For now, we can only wait for a formal company announcement and/or word from very well-informed outsiders. Stay tuned.

For all the confusion--or is it corporate smoke-screening?--Herr Müeller has hinted that much work has already been done on the MMB threesome. Indeed, several sources believe the program is far enough along that the Audi R4 will actually go on sale late in calendar 2014. If that’s right, it would be a 2015-model U.S. debut. The VW and Porsche would presumably follow during 2015 as 2016-model U.S.-market intros.

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