(autoinsidernews) - This spy shot of the facelifted 997 and these dark objects in the car's headlamp assembly have set off a wave of speculation that the 2008 Porsche 911 may be available with a night vision system, like BMW and Mercedes offer on their flagship models.
The folks over at German Car Scene are speculating the little black spots within the headlamp assembly are set of infrared projector beams. The Mercedes system uses two infrared projector and a windshield-mounted camera, and displays and enhanced image onto a screen, reports Trend.
At this time, we're not sold on the speculation for several reasons. Further review of the images, seems to hint at four dark spots on the inside and outside edges of the headlamp assembly. Also note that, of the circled spots, one is on the inside edge and one is on the outside edge. The enhanced image of the road ahead would be displayed in the instrument cluster, and that would likely force Porsche to relocate the tach from its traditional center location. And it just seems to go against Porsche's tradition of avoiding gimmicks. Our view is that these spots have something to do with adaptive lighting.
Expect to hear more about the facelifted 911 at an upcoming auto show.