The GT5 filing, which was submitted alongside a request to protect the GT4 name, was approved by Germany’s trademark office late last year, according to Autocar.
The company has used GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT4 branding for various cars, matching their respective positioning in various sports-car racing classes, however there is no current racing series that uses the GT5 moniker.
Porsche has begun to treat its racing-inspired naming scheme as its own proprietary branding for road-going cars, leading to a public dispute with Aston Martin over the “Vantage GT3″ nameplate. The latter company later renamed its special-edition car as the Vantage GT12 to avoid further conflict.
The German trademark filing has led to speculation that Porsche could be building new high-performance range-topping variants of one or more models that don’t currently have a GT1-GT4 predecessor, such as the Panamera, Cayenne or Macan.
The Cayman GT4 is the latest model to receive the designation, adding 911-sourced components, bigger brakes and revised suspension. With a 3.8-liter flat-six engine, tuned to produce 385 horsepower, the GT4 laps the Nürburgring’s North Loop in just 7:40.
The company is planning to offer flat-four engines for its Cayman and Boxster lineup sometime next year. It is unclear if the GT5 name might be used for one of the new variants, as a rumored 2.5-liter engine is said to produce even more power than the current Cayman GT4′s six-cylinder unit.
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