THE Porsche 911 It may not be the German manufacturer's best-selling model — that title belongs to the Cayenne, the SUV — but it is in the unmistakable profile of the sports car that its essence and soul still resides. A true icon that, after 57 years of life, is still the yardstick by which all other sports are measured.
And one of the crucial elements that has made the 911 a 911 since it was a…901 has been the boxer six-cylinder mounted in the “wrong place” behind the rear axle. An electric 911 means taking the six-cylinder boxer out of the equation, so it stops being a 911 and becomes something else.
It seems to be the opinion of Oliver Blume, who in statements to Bloomberg, was forceful in his convictions.
Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche“Let me be clear, our icon, the 911, will have a combustion engine for a long time to come. The 911 is a concept automobile prepared for a combustion engine. It is not useful to combine it with purely electric mobility. we believe in purpose-designed cars for electric mobility."
In other words, we are unlikely to see an electric Porsche 911 for years to come, if ever. If there is a future electric sports car at Porsche it will be conceived from scratch as such and therefore will have to take on a new identity.
attack on two fronts
With these statements, Oliver Blume does not take an anti-electric position, quite the contrary. In fact, it's part of Porsche's plans for half of the models sold to be electrified (electric and plug-in hybrids) as early as 2025. Panamera and Cayenne already make plug-in hybrid variants available — which have known great commercial success — and the Taycan electric will be accompanied, in the short term, by a 100% new and 100% electric Macan (which will be sold in parallel with the current Macan).
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Oliver Blume doesn't say no to 100% electric sports cars either: “I think that in the future there will also be space for very sporty purely electric cars to join the other sports cars. There are great opportunities.”
But an electric 911, the Porsche icon? We will hardly see him motivated solely by electrons.
Rumors, however, say that we may see some sort of hybridization of the Porsche 911 perhaps even during this 992 generation. Rumors that Blume practically confirmed: “In the future of the 911, there are very good ideas for a special type of hybrid, a very oriented hybrid for performance, where we will use, for example, the 400 V system for our electric motor”.
If, on the one hand, we see Porsche announcing an investment of 15 billion euros, spread over the next five years, for electric mobility, sustainable production and digitization; on the other, it was the latest industry player to commit to the development of synthetic fuels or e-fuels.
When produced using 100% renewable energies, they can be essential for reducing emissions and complying with future emission standards. In addition, they will be essential to help keep circulating the 70% of all Porsche models produced to date that are still in circulation or are able to circulate.
Oliver Blume, CEO of PorscheStopping internal combustion engines is not the right discussion. To reduce CO2 emissions, we come from both sides (electric mobility and synthetic fuels).
Source: Bloomberg.