Porsche 911 Will Have a Combustion Engine for ‘As Long as Possible’
There’s going to be a hybrid 911 eventually, but the iconic sports car isn’t slated to go fully electric in the foreseeable future.
There are a few fully electric Porsches in the pipeline: The upcoming 718 Boxster/Cayman twins, the next-generation Macan SUV, the next-gen Cayenne SUV, and there's even slated to be a larger, seven-seat electric SUV from Porsche, all before 2030. However, there's one car that Porsche refuses to fully electrify—the 911.
According to Reuters, Porsche's Senior Project Lead for eFuels Karl Dums said that the brand will electrify most of its lineup but the Porsche 911 will remain piston-powered for the foreseeable future. While Dums admitted that switching to electrification was Porsche's main priority, the 911 is the brand's only exception, saying "...we will produce the 911 as long as possible with a combustion engine."
That doesn't mean the 911 won't get any electrification, though. Porsche has already stated that the 911 will eventually get a hybrid powertrain of some sort. While it might not be a plug-in hybrid, with a healthy EV-only range, it's sure to get some sort of electric assist at some point.
Porsche has also been one of the biggest—if not the biggest—proponents of e-fuels (basically synthetic gasoline) in the industry. Its investment into the Chilean e-fuel company HIF has made Porsche the most outspoken automaker for the use of carbon-neutral fuels. E-fuels are made from CO2, and other greenhouse gasses, harvested from the atmosphere, so when the fuel is burned, the carbon emissions are offset by its recycled production, therefore making them carbon neutral. However, Dums posited that Porsche's e-fuel plans are separate from its EV plans.
Keeping the 911 an ICE sports car also helps to differentiate it from its other sports cars. The current 718 Boxster and Cayman are both such impressive sports cars that Porsche risks them cannibalizing 911 sales, especially now that the two lesser models have GT4 and RS model variants. However, if the Boxster and Cayman are electric, the 911 will have a distinct flavor of its own that will keep buyers coming back to it, regardless of how good its smaller, cheaper siblings get.
Between e-fuels and hybrid powertrains, it seems that Porsche has a couple of options for keeping the internal combustion 911 alive for at least another decade. However, by 2030, the 911 will be Porsche's last ICE standing.
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