The electrification of Porsche 911 is one of those topics that is occasionally discussed and after a few months Oliver Blume, the executive director of Porsche said that the iconic model "will have a combustion engine for a long time" and even raised the possibility of never get electrified, the brand's design director seems to have another vision.
In an interview with Britons at Autocar, Michael Mauer downplayed the challenges of adapting the iconic 911 silhouette to electrification, saying “the 911 silhouette is iconic and that has to remain. We've proven over the years that the new 911 is always a 911 — but it's a new one.”
Instead, Mauer singled out as the main “threat” to the famous 911 lines the increasing complexity of combustion engines to ensure they meet stringent emissions standards, particularly the increasingly complex exhaust systems.
About this, Michael Mauer revealed: “I would be more concerned about how I'm going to be able to 'fit' combustion engines in the next 10 or 15 years, because the rear projection is most likely to be almost two meters. Electric technology, on the other hand, gives us more freedom”.
Still, Porsche's design director was optimistic, saying “We'll see. Maybe in the next generation we can still make a 911 with a combustion engine. I don't know, as designers we will have to find solutions”.
Divergent opinions are the basis of the brand
It is curious that the opinion of Porsche's design director is so different from that of the executive director of the German brand. However, for Michael Mauer these divergent opinions are part of the brand's culture and are one of the bases for always finding the best solutions.
And to prove that theory, Mauer recalled: “I'm part of the group that went from the air-cooled to the water-cooled 911 and now we have turbo engines (…) Maybe an electric 911 is another story, but purely from a design point of view , an electric 911 is even easier in the future.”
As for the idea that the six-cylinder boxer engine is one of the bases of the emotion associated with the 911, Mauer disagrees, preferring to associate that emotion with design and dynamic behavior.
Source: Autocar.