Porsche’s next 911 hikes power
Line-up will be turbo-only, with hybrids coming in 2020.
Porsche is preparing to reveal the eighth-generation 911 at November’s Los Angeles motor show, but now the new model, code-named 992, has been spotted virtually undisguised while testing. Evolutionary design tweaks will be brought in for the revised model, but extensive changes to the powertrain range will feature. For the first time, every petrol engine in the 911 line-up will be turbocharged, marking the end of naturally aspirated units found in more hard-core variants of the current 991.2-generation model.
The redesigned 911 family will also include two new four-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid models, including a range-topping version with more than 600hp and a top speed of nearly 320kph.
Although it will be launched with traditional combustion-engined Carrera and Carrera S models, the petrol-electric versions will be an integral part of the line-up. A source says the Carrera 4 E-Hybrid and Turbo S E-Hybrid variants will be added to the model line-up in 2020. The 911 model range will eventually grow to 24 variants.
The technical layout is expected to receive a discshaped electric motor in two different power outputs housed within the gearbox. Space up front will be used to house a lithium ion battery similar in capacity to the 14.1kWh unit used by the Cayenne E-Hybrid.
The Turbo S E-Hybrid is claimed to eclipse the 580hp of the current twin-turbo 3.8-litre six-cylinder 911 Turbo S with an estimated 610hp of power.
The hybrid 911s will feature the firm’s traditional flat-six with an electric motor. The decision to add hybrids to the range was in part driven by the need to meet the tightening EU CO2 regulations.
But the initial range-topper of the new 911 line-up will be the Turbo S, which will feature a 620hp twinturbo 3.8-litre flat-six. It will use engine hardware from the GT2 RS to raise the output by 50hp from the current Turbo S’s.
Below that will sit a Turbo model tipped to produce about 570hp, roughly 30hp more than the current Turbo. The 911 GT3 will deliver more than 500hp, while standard models will get 10-15hp more than the current Carrera and Carrera S.
The new 911 will be built around an evolved version of Porsche’s MMB structure, which will be wider than the current generation. That should improve stability and rear-seat space.