What's all this about?

If you recall, on June 8 of this year, Porsche revealed the 991.2 911 Speedster Concept to the world at Zuffenhausen, as a 70th birthday present to itself. The date was particularly poignant for Porsche, because on June 8, 1948, the 356 'Number 1' gained its operating licence and thus began the German company's storied history of building sports cars across seven decades. Well, here's the 911 Speedster Concept 2, which debuted at the Paris Motor Show. And it presages a production run of 911 Speedsters.

Really? Porsche has green-lit the idea?

It has indeed. And do you want to guess how many 991.2 Speedsters will be built?

Erm... 1,948?

You're very good at this, aren't you? Correct. The car shown in Paris is therefore still not 100 per cent what the production version will look like, but you have to guess that it's mighty, mighty close to 'finished', given Porsche is saying all 1,948 Speedsters will be built in the first half of 2019. Since its appearance in June in Heritage colours, the Speedster Concept has now taken on Guards Red paint - a direct homage to the 1988 G-series 911 Speedster - and a gorgeous set of centre-lock, cross-spoke, 21-inch alloy wheels. Inside, there's a black perforated-leather interior with red highlights and much of the detailing of the Heritage Concept 1 is maintained on the Guards Red Concept 2, such as the 'Talbot' door mirrors, the tinted daytime running lights and the centre-mounted fuel filler cap.

Has it changed structurally or mechanically, then?

Nope. But this is not a bad thing at all. Its chopped Carrera 4 Cabriolet bodywork still features plenty of carbon fibre and shortened windows, while there's no hood - instead, a tonneau cover can shelter the cabin from the elements, but only when the Speedster is parked. The whole lot sits on the chassis and running gear from a 991.2 GT3 manual, given that Porsche says it has a six-speed manual and a nat-asp engine that can rev to 9,000rpm, but the tantalising hint of 'more than 500hp' (which is what the GT3 makes) suggests the Speedster will run the 520hp of a 991.2 GT3 RS, making it not only a final hurrah for the 991.2 911 as a whole, but also possibly a glorious send-off for the 4.0-litre flat-six mill. This makes us a little sad, given that 992 911s are probably all going to have to be turbocharged to meet emissions regs (the GT3s included), but what a way to bow out, eh?

Anything else?

The 911 Speedster Concept 2 has a titanium-tipped sports exhaust system, courtesy of its GT development, which should make it noisy. And the production version, developed at the Porsche Motorsport centre in Weissach in cooperation with Style Porsche and Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, will be the first car from the company to be offered with the new Heritage Design Packages, said to offer an even higher degree of personalisation for the 911.