This Is The First-Ever Hybrid Porsche 911
We’ve known for quite some time a hybrid Porsche 911 was coming. Not only had the manufacturer itself announced that fact earlier this month, but it’s been one of the industry’s worst-kept secrets for the last 12 months or so. Finally, it’s here.
This is the 992.2 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, the first 911 road car equipped with a hybrid engine. Sitting on the rear axle is a newly-developed 3.6-litre six-cylinder boxer engine, with an electric motor linked up to the eight-speed PDK gearbox.
As a result, total power output is rated at 534bhp and 450lb ft of torque, with 56bhp and 80lb ft of that peak output coming from the electric motor. Unusually for Porsche, it hasn’t quoted a 0-62mph time yet, stating only that it’ll be faster than the outgoing GTS. For reference, rear-driven versions of that can do it in 3.4 seconds with the all-wheel drive ‘4’ doing it in 3.3 seconds.
It’s worth pointing out now that the new GTS isn’t a plug-in hybrid, rather it ‘self-charges’ a 1.9kWh. Obviously, that means no real electric-only range is possible, but you should see some real-world efficiency gains over the outgoing car despite a 50kg weight increase.
Porsche has done much more to the new GTS than simply stick a hybrid system in. Rear axle steering now comes as standard, while the Dynamic Chassis Control active anti-roll system now taps into the high-voltage hybrid system which Porsche says makes it ‘even more flexible and precise’.
Visual changes have been made as well, which should be reflected across the rest of the 911 range as the 992.2 is slowly phased in. Most obvious is a completely new front bumper with a shedload of active cooling flaps for the GTS, and a tweak to the design of the rear
It’s inside where the biggest changes to the 992 platform as a whole come, but perhaps not necessarily for the better. For the first time, the 911 gets a fully-digital instrument cluster on a 12.6-inch curved display. Nothing against Porsche’s tech itself, as it’s very good on other cars including the new Cayenne we drove recently, but it does feel a shame to lose analogue dials on a 911.
It keeps the 10.9-inch central infotainment display, although with some software upgrades to improve driving mode customisation and to allow for native use of Apple’s Siri among other little tweaks.
Oh, in case you don’t want a hybrid, an updated 911 Carrera is also coming. This still uses a 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six, albeit now with the intercooler from the Turbo and new turbochargers from the outgoing GTS. Power is up to 389bhp from 379bhp, and we do have a 0-62mph figure for it – 3.9 seconds. A tenth quicker than the outgoing Carrera.
Orders for the 992.2 Carrera and GTS are being taken now. Prices kick off at £99,800 for the former, and £132,600 for the latter.
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