By 2030, 80% of Porsche's sales will be electrified, but Oliver Blume, executive director of the Stuttgart-based manufacturer, has already come to rest the most purist fans of the German brand, saying the 911 will not enter these accounts.
Porsche's “boss” defines the 911 as the icon of the German brand and guarantees that it will be the last model in the “house” of Zuffenhausen to become fully electric, something that may never even happen.
"We will continue to produce the 911 with an internal combustion engine," said Blume, quoted by CNBC. “The 911 concept doesn't allow for an all-electric car because it has the engine in the rear. To put all the weight of the battery in the rear, the car would be impossible to drive”, he shot.
This is not the first time that Oliver Blume has shown himself with force in his convictions for the most emblematic of the brand's models. Recall, for example, what Blume said about five months ago in statements to Bloomberg: “Let me be clear, our icon, the 911, will have a combustion engine for a long time to come. The 911 is a car concept prepared for a combustion engine. It is not useful to combine it with purely electrical mobility. We believe in purpose-built cars for electric mobility.”
After all, and looking back at the target set for 2030, it's safe to say that at that time the 911 will be one of the biggest contributors — or even solely responsible … — for the 20% of Porsche models that will not be electrified.
However, some sort of electrification in the future is not ruled out, with Blume revealing that the learning gained from the resistance program — which dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans — may have an impact on the future of 911.
Electrification already represents a large share of the Stuttgart brand's sales and is already present on the Cayenne and Panamera, in the plug-in hybrid variants, and also on the Taycan, Porsche's first all-electric model.
An electron-only Macan will soon follow — the PPE platform (developed in conjunction with Audi) will debut, and electrified versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman may also be in the pipeline, although nothing has yet been decided. : there is “an opportunity to make them like an electric vehicle, but we are still at the conceptualization stage. We haven't decided yet”, said Blume in an interview with Top Gear.
Back to 911, the answer to this whole “equation” — electrification or non-electrification? — may be directly related to Porsche's recent bet on synthetic fuels, as the German brand recently announced a partnership with Siemens Energy to produce synthetic fuels in Chile starting next year.