Porsche

In November 1975 the Porsche 924 made its debut at a press launch in the south of France. It was originally a joint project of Volkswagen and Porsche, intended to be Volkswagen's flagship coupé sports car. The 1973 oil crisis and a change of directors at Volkswagen made the case for a Volkswagen sports car less striking and the project was put on hold. Eventually, the project was scrapped entirely and the decision was made to move forward with the cheaper, more practical, Golf-based Scirocco instead. Porsche, which needed a model to replace the 914, made a deal with Volkswagen to buy the design back. The 924 was the first production Porsche to use water cooling and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. While the car was praised for its styling, handling, fuel economy, and reliability, it was lacking in performance, reason why in 1978 a turbocharged version was introduced.