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Porsche updates its 911, but not too much

“Evolution not revolution” is a phrase so well-used in the business of car design that it now triggers automatic eye-roll. There is one model, though, for which it still feels appropriate.

“In its overall concept, the 911 has always stayed true to its roots,” says Michael Mauer, chief designer at Porsche. “All the ingredients that have made it unique and successful are still there: the purity of its lines, the functionalism, the proportions and its key design features.”

Those elements include the elliptical headlights, that relatively upright profile and the teardrop-shaped “glass box”. For this car — code-named 992 — a longer, more angular bonnet, a broader, re-styled rear end and an interior which combines the latest tech with almost Seventies analogue styling are among the biggest changes. The overall effect is subtle-bordering-onimperceptible but the design team seems to have an uncanny knack of knowing what to tweak and what to leave well alone.

To evolve a design so that it remains faithful to a car from 1963, yet with each update still feels fresh alongside contemporary rivals (many of which enjoy the luxury of a clean sheet of paper) deserves more praise than it might receive. It requires careful guardianship, which Mauer describes as both “a challenge and an honour at the same time”.

“What we continuously focus on is to keep it not just up to date but to really push it forward,” adds Mauer. And that means addressing each generational shift with a clear brief of its own.

“I wanted a muscular and very compact appearance — one that hides the fact that, dimensionally, the 992 has grown a bit compared to the 991 [the 2012 model]. Secondly,” he says, “we focused on unmistakable styling cues such as the rear light bow in order to clearly set it apart from its predecessors.”

Objective successfully achieved. Once again.