Porsche has cleverly expanded its line-up since the birth of the Cayenne 20 years ago, now offering various configurations of four-door sedans (Taycan and Panamera) as well as the Macan. The emblematic Porsche 911 will remain special to the company (and to its fans) and as seen in the latest 911 GT3, electrification of the automotive icon is still absent.
The German company famous for its sports cars, motorsports and heritage said that although there are no plans to offer a fully electric Porsche 911, the progress of technology and maintaining the teardrop shape of the Porsche 911 actually isn’t as difficult as thought.
In a conversation with Autocar UK, Porsche’s design chief Michael Mauer said that from purely a design standpoint, an electric Porsche 911 is even easier in the future. Mauer believes that while a 911 as a whole is 100% emotion, the glorious soundtrack from the six-cylinder boxer engine is not 100% of the emotion.
“It’s the styling, the handling, how it goes around the corner. Electric engines regarding torque and performance offer that: yes, it is missing the sound, but if you look at young kids today, do they need it? I don’t know,” express Mauer to Autocar UK.
Packaging the current hardware consisting of engine, turbochargers, intercoolers, radiators and cleaning of the exhaust gases leave designers and engineers with many compromises. Mauer said he and his team were concerned about this topic but with electricity and other new technologies, there is more freedom.
Porsche however is also quick to reply that a fully electric 911 will only see light as late as 2030, with the company focusing on volume products such as the upcoming second-generation Porsche Macan as well as the Mission R concept for motorsports. Rumours surrounding a ‘hybridized’ Porsche 911 coming soon also intensified after spy photographers spotted a lightly-camouflaged development car doing some laps at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
While it is too early to share technical pieces of the Porsche Mission R concept, the development mule or “rolling chassis” that looks to be based from a Porsche 718 Boxster seems to have all the right ingredients to keep Porsche fans and enthusiast satisfied.
Lotus recently unveiled their technological concept for the next generation of fully electric two-seat mid-engined sports cars, with a modular ‘chest’ battery between the cabin and the electric motor. Such a layout provides both low centre of gravity plus low overall vehicle height, key elements of a two-seat sports car.
