History of the 911 Turbo
With more than four decades having passed since the first turbocharged 911 appeared, we plot its development through every generation
A definitive history and journey through the evolution of the Porsche Turbo
Put aside, for one moment, the cars sporting RS and GT badges – special as they are – because when it comes to the pinnacle of the respective 911 ranges, that honour has always belonged to the Turbo. For any buyer looking for the ultimate in performance and prestige (and price too, as often as not) it was to forced induction that they needed to turn. It’s been that way for more than 40 years, but even at the 930’s inception the idea of turbocharging wasn’t new, and companies such as Saab and BMW would soon bring the technology to the mass market.
With Porsche having learnt its craft in the white heat of top-level motorsport it was no surprise that turbocharging would soon find its way into production road cars, resulting in a legacy that endures to this day. And remember that first model was no compromised racer-for-the-road, instead acting as a wake-up call for other manufacturers. Contemporary supercars from the revered Italian marques might have boasted broadly similar power outputs, but none could deploy them with quite the accelerative venom of the 911, and Porsche’s bold approach to performance was rightly considered a game changer.
That first attempt was far from perfect, however, with turbo lag and tricky handling chief among its foibles, but the point had been proven and the company devoted huge amounts of time and money to perfecting the recipe something it did with considerable aplomb. As each generation of Neunelfer arrived so did the power, performance and technology increase, each model more advanced and finely honed than the last. The culmination some four decades on is thrilling: luxurious, cutting-edge supercars that are as happy on city streets as they are lapping Silverstone. It’s an engineering evolution that thoroughly deserves to be celebrated, so over the page that’s exactly what we’ve done, highlighting the 911 Turbo’s entire evolution…
“Porsche’s bold approach was rightly considered a game changer”