Interesting news emerged today from Porsche, regarding their long-rumored Ferrari 458-rivalling supercar. Codenamed the 988, the mid-engined speed machine is said to be getting a brand-new flat-eight engine, booted with four turbos.

Porsche 988 is reportedly aiming for 600 horsepower minimum, which means a displacement of at least 4.0 liter for the current flat-six engines. But as Porsche learned the hard way, increasing the capacity of these motors can have catastrophic results, such as spontaneous combustion.

So they are adding two more cylinders to the block, which supports bigger displacements and also helps with the balance. Meanwhile the turbochargers will enable the engineers to extract as much power out of the engine as they desire, while keeping the fuel consumption at a reasonable level.

Porsche 988, which will be heavily inspired by the 918 hyper car in terms of styling, is not the only radical new project the German automaker has in the pipeline. They are also developing a whole range of new turbocharged engines, including four-cylinder boxer units, to be used in new versions of the Cayman and Boxster as well as an all-new compact sports car.

More details: Autocar