Porsche Boxster Spyder Coming to 2009 L.A. Auto Show

STUTTGART, Germany — Porsche has announced it will roll out a new open-top version of the Boxster, the Boxster Spyder, at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show in December. The new model is slated to begin going on sale worldwide alongside its Boxster and Boxster S siblings next February.

Unlike the special-edition Boxster Spyders from 2004 and 2008, the new Spyder is a specially developed full production model, Porsche says.

Porsche says the midengine Boxster Spyder, at 2,811 pounds, will be the lightest-weight Porsche in the lineup. Keeping it light is a low-profile soft top that is intended "exclusively to protect the driver and passenger from bright sunshine, wind and weather," Porsche says. The Boxster Spyder is meant to continue the tradition of Spyders starting with the 550 Spyder from 1953, which was developed for racing and weighed a mere 1,213 pounds.

The Boxster Spyder gets Porsche's 3.4-liter six-cylinder engine that makes 320 horsepower — a 10-hp increase over the Boxster S — taking it from zero to 60 mph in less than 4.8 seconds and on to a top speed with the top down of 166 mph. It is fitted with an all-new sport suspension that lowers the car by 0.8 inch and has a lower center of gravity, a standard limited-slip differential and Porsche's PDK transmission and Sports ChronoPackage.

In the U.S., the Boxster Spyder will be priced at $61,200 and will go on sale in February.

Inside Line says: Droptop dreaming in California on a winter's day. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent