Judging from the latest spy shots of the upcoming Porsche 911, I am guessing that the next significant model update will be the most subtle one that the 911 lineup has had yet. For employees and enthusiasts, it will be known as the 998, but for non car people it will just be the 2011 Porsche 911. While the exterior did not undergo any major changes due to this generation shift, the drivetrain and suspension should have been improved enough to satisfy those looking for something new.

Earlier spyshots of the R&D team doing their thing on the Nurburgring indicated that they were using a 997 chassis as a test mule for all the moving bits (like how Honda tested their new NSX with the S2000 chassis). The 998 looks like it will have a significantly wider stance because of the significantly widened fenders that the 997 chassis was rocking. We also can see that the front and rear headlights have changed ever so slightly.

Revised air intake routing and an exhaust that was bulging out under the 997 bumper indicate a revised or totally different engine; however it is unlikely that they have strayed far from the iconic flat sixes. Porsche’s dual clutch transmission, PDK (similar to the DSG found in the Volkswagen GTI), has been planned to be installed in a larger percentage of cars with the 998 as well as a turbo engine that kicks out an extra 50 or so horsepower.

With the testing team’s move from night testing to day testing, the use of the new chassis (instead of the 997 test mule), and spy shots of the convertible leaking out, we can expect to see a formal announcement from Porsche pretty soon, including official pictures.