Porsche GT Cars Won’t Go Electric or Hybrid Anytime Soon, Brand Boss Says
Homologation rules dictate that Porsche’s GT street cars are powered like its race cars: unelectrified.
Rejoice, Porsche purists. In spite of plans to introduce a hybrid 911 and the Taycan electric car, battery power won't be coming to the brand's track-focused GT cars anytime soon.
Speaking to Autocar, Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger says that electrification is "not something we think about at the moment." Chiefly because homologation rules require the brand's street cars to resemble the race cars to a certain degree and unless the racers suddenly become electric, the civilian models will remain gloriously reliant on unassisted internal combustion.
"There are ideas to maybe look in that direction for the normal sports car line but not for the GT cars," said Preuninger. "If we would decide to make all the racing cars electrified overnight, then we would have a reason to look into that but, as always, it has to be a connection between the cars we use on the track to the cars we sell with a number plate attached. Firstly, for homologation, but also we have to have the same DNA in the car and share the same platform, otherwise you lose credibility," explains the GT boss.
Preuninger also adds that Porsche's top brass are on the same page as him and understand the value that his division's seemingly regressive products bring to both the customers that actually pay for them and Porsche's reputation.
"Luckily our board members support us with GT projects which are pure Porsche in a way a 911 always was," he said. "In other teams, Porsche concentrates on fields such as digitalization and electro-mobility. We're in constant interchange but I don't think we should put everything in one barrel."
Preuninger's latest creations, the 718 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder, use a 414-horsepower, naturally-aspirated flat-six exclusively hooked up to a six-speed manual transmission. No all-wheel drive, no hybrid batteries, no turbochargers, no PDK, and cloth door pulls. Just the way people like it.
"We have to have different cars to share different purposes and as long as this customer group is willing to buy our cars and enjoy the cars so much, why should we stop?"