Porsche outlines new 2024 models including hybrid 911
It's a car that's been promised to us for a while, and now it looks like it's finally going to happen. Porsche has announced some of its new upcoming models, and one of them will be a 911 with a “high performance hybrid drive.” There will also be new generations of the Panamera and Taycan, an all-electric Macan, and, eventually, a new electric SUV that will be positioned above the Cayenne.
The new models were announced during Porsche's annual press conference in Germany, where executives also presented financial information and said Porsche “closed out a very successful 2023 financial year and is planning the biggest year of production launches in the company's history in 2024.” The automaker reported global sales of 320,221 vehicles in 2023, an increase of 3.3 per cent over 2022.
There was minimal information on the individual models that will debut in 2024, but it seems the first to arrive will be the third generation of the Panamera, which will have “even more powerful drivetrains.” Expect sharper styling and a new Porsche Active Ride suspension, which “combines a significantly higher level of comfort” with “sporty driving characteristics.”
The next-generation Taycan will go on sale in the spring, promising more power, longer range, quicker acceleration, and faster charging. The day prior to the press conference, Porsche took the wraps off the new 2025 Taycan Turbo GT at its world première; it will start at $270,000 in Canada. The Turbo GT will have up to 1,092 horsepower and a top speed of 305 km/h (190 m.p.h.), and an “Attack Mode” button that provides up to 160 more horses for 10 seconds.
To back up those numbers, it's already set record lap times at the Nürburgring and Laguna Seca, plus a sprint of zero to 100 km/h in 2.2 seconds. The available trackready Turbo GT with Weissach Package sheds as much as 71 kg (157 lbs.) compared to the Taycan Turbo S, thanks to carbon-fibre components and the fact that no one bothered to bolt in any rear seats; instead, there's carbon-fibre cladding with a storage compartment back there.
The Macan will enter its second generation when it's launched in the second half of this year, and in addition to a gasoline version, there will also be an all-electric version. There are no details yet, except that both will be built in the same factory in Leipzig, Germany.
There also wasn't much information on the new 911, which will appear in early summer and with that hybrid drive. Expect it to be primarily about performance on the street, rather than at the gas pumps. According to Oliver Blume, chairperson of the executive board, “Once again we are deploying technology in series-production models that we have derived from the world of motorsport. And our customers can look forward to further technological innovations along those same lines.”
And while electrification plays a role in the new product launches, Porsche also said that it is committed to “a combination of three types of powertrains: efficient ICES (internal-combustion engines), exciting plug-in hybrids, and innovative all-electric models.”
Looking farther into the future, Porsche plans an all-electric 718 (Boxster and Cayman) for middecade, followed by an electric Cayenne. From there, the automaker will introduce an entirely new and all-electric SUV, “sportily positioned above the Cayenne.” It will be built on a sports version of the Volkswagen Group's Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) and made in Leipzig, and its target market is drivers in the U.S. and China.
Porsche also said it is sticking to its “ambitious sustainability targets,” including fully electrified powertrains in more than 80 per cent of its new vehicles by 2030 — with the caveat that it'll depend on customer demand and electromobility development in various regions — and the use of renewable synthetic fuels for ICE vehicles.
The automaker acknowledged there are about 1.3 billion such vehicles in the world right now.