Porsche 911

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Porsche builds a hybrid 911 at long last

Cars, Porsche 911, Porsche 911 Carrera GTS / /

3.6 L —

The iconic sports car gets an electrified option as part of the 992-generation refresh.

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A grey Porsche 911 drives on a road

Enlarge / The current 911—known to Porschephiles as the 992 generation—has just been given its midlife refresh. The most obvious visual indicator is the presence of vertical strakes in the front air intakes. But we’re much more interested in what’s gone on under the skin.

Porsche

Today, Porsche gave the venerable 911 a bit of a spiff-up, putting an updated engine in the base 911 Carrera and making some design tweaks to keep the 992-generation machine looking fresh. But the most interesting update is an all-new powertrain in the 911 Carrera GTS. For the first time, you can now buy a hybrid 911.

When Porsche has been asked about adding electrification to the 911, the answer has generally been some variation of “we’ll do it when the technology gets light enough.” Plug-in hybrid Cayennes, Panameras, and battery electric Taycans are all well and good because they are big cars.

But a Porsche 911 remains a relatively small car, even if it has grown a little since 1963. The engine bay behind the rear axle isn’t exactly expansive, and adding a high-voltage battery and electric motors had to be done thoughtfully.

F1-style

There’s still a flat-six engine at the back—Porsche didn’t decide to downsize to the 718’s four-cylinder version to free up space. In fact, it increased the engine’s bore (to 97 mm) and stroke (to 81 mm) to increase the engine capacity to 3.6 L, up from 3.0 L in the previous 911 Carrera GTS. On its own, the six-cylinder turbocharged boxer engine generates a fraction more power and the same amount of torque as the old engine—478 hp (357 kW) and 420 lb-ft (570 Nm).

  • The GTS engine grows in capacity by 20 percent.

    Porsche

  • I’m going to have to stop writing that F1 MGU-Hs have no road relevance now, because that’s what Porsche has fitted to the GTS’ turbocharger.

    Porsche

  • This is the rear-wheel drive GTS powertrain. The traction battery is that silver box above the front axle.

    Porsche

But it’s not on its own. And, like an F1 car—or perhaps the all-conquering Porsche 919 Hybrid endurance racer—it actually has a pair of hybrid systems. A permanently excited synchronous motor is integrated into the eight-speed PDK transmission, which generates 54 hp (40 kW) and 110 lb-ft (150 Nm) and can send power to the wheels, boosting or filling in gaps in the engine’s torque curve as well as regenerating energy under braking.

A second motor-generator unit is integrated into the engine’s single-scroll turbocharger. This is rated at just 11 kW, but it can spin up the turbine to create boost or harvest electrical energy from the exhaust gases, just like an MGU-H in F1.

Obviously, a hybrid needs a battery, and the 911 Carrera GTS’ high-voltage traction battery lives under the hood up front, where you’d normally find a 12 V battery for starting. The traction battery operates at 400 V and is about the same size and weight as a conventional AGM 12 V battery used in a 911, but it has a storage capacity of 1.9 kWh. There is still a 12 V battery for starting the car, but it’s now a compact lithium-ion battery that lives under the rear parcel shelf.

Working in concert, the hybrid powertrain has a combined rating of 532 hp (398 kW) and 449 lb-ft (609 Nm). And the weight penalty is just 103 lbs (47 kg) more than the old 911 Carrera GTS Coupe.

(Yes, technically, there has been a hybrid 911 before—the 911 GT3-R Hybrid race car, which we’ve written about a couple of times in the past. But it’s now a museum piece, and its flywheel hybrid system has been permanently deactivated.)

Rear seats are now optional

Interestingly, Porsche is now making the 911 a two-seater by default. However, you can still spec one with rear seats—best used by small children or pets and a little torturous for adults for any period of time—as a no-cost option. That applies to all 911s, not just the GTS.

The interior also gets the same 12.6-inch curved digital display in front of the driver as you’ll find in a Taycan or Panamera, replacing the old setup of two smaller digital displays on either side of a large physical tachometer.

  • There’s a new dashboard for model-year 2025 Porsche 911s.

    Porsche

  • The GTS also comes in a Cabriolet.

  • And even a Targa, as long as you’re OK with all-wheel drive.

    Porsche

  • A closer look at the new front air intakes.

    Porsche

  • The changes at the rear are pretty subtle.

The 911 Carrera GTS is available in rear- or all-wheel drive and three body styles. Both RWD and AWD are available as either a coupe or convertible, and the AWD Carrera 4 GTS is also available with a retractable hard top (Targa). All come with the eight-speed PDK transmission, as there’s no option for a manual transmission with the new hybrid powertrain.

The GTS carries a hefty $44,800 premium over the entry-level 911 Carrera, however. The 911 Carrera GTS starts at $164,900, with the Carrera GTS Cabriolet starting at $178,200. An AWD Carrera 4 GTS will cost at least $172,700, and both the Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet and Targa will start at $186,000. Porsche says the GTS is expected at the end of 2024.

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2024 Porsche 911 S/T review: Threading the needle

car review, Cars, Features, Porsche 911, Porsche 911 S/T / /

yet another 911 review —

The S/T celebrates the 60th anniversary of the 911 and is limited to just 1963 examples.

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A porsche 911 S/T

Enlarge / I wouldn’t blame you if you lost track of all the different variations on the Porsche 911. This is the latest, and currently, the most desirable.

Bradley Iger

Although Porsche is in the midst of taking its BEV technology mainstream, the company hasn’t lost sight of the fact that its high-performance reputation was built on the 911.

Over the past few years, the automaker has developed a myriad of different versions of the iconic sports car, resulting in offerings that currently range from plush open-top cruisers to hardcore track monsters, along with special edition models like the off-road-tuned Dakar and heritage-inspired Sport Classic. You might be wondering, then, if there’s really an opportunity for a new performance-focused model to stand out in the 911 lineup.

On the surface, the S/T seems to tread much of the same ground already occupied by the GT3 Touring, an iteration of the track-ready GT3 that ditches the large fixed rear wing for the smaller, aesthetically subtler active rear spoiler found on Carrera models. But as lovely to drive as the GT3 Touring is, it feels like a conceptual afterthought.

Because of its reduced downforce, Porsche has always considered the Touring to be a GT3 intended for the street rather than the track, yet the model’s tuning has otherwise remained unchanged from the standard GT3. This, along with a number of other crucial updates, allows the S/T to stand out from the crowd not just among fast 911s but among sports cars in general.

The canyon roads around Los Angeles are natural hunting territory for the S/T.

Enlarge / The canyon roads around Los Angeles are natural hunting territory for the S/T.

Bradley Iger

The name is a nod to a racing version of the 911 S from the late 1960s: Internally known as the ST, the package included modifications to the chassis, engine, and body to improve performance. But unlike the iconic Carrera RS 2.7 that would debut a few years down the road, the ST lacked the aggressive aerodynamic elements that would later come to define the look of track-tuned 911s.

The core hardware involved is an interesting amalgamation of components from the current GT division lineup. In a purposely old-school approach not unlike the Sport Classic, the S/T pairs the GT3 RS’s naturally aspirated 518 hp (386 kW) 4.0-liter flat-six engine with the GT3’s six-speed manual gearbox—a combination that can’t be had in any other factory-produced 911.

Like the GT3 RS, the S/T’s hood, front fenders, doors, and roof are made from carbon fiber, and thanks to its magnesium wheels, fixed-back carbon bucket seats, and other weight-reducing components that are equipped as standard, it manages to tip the scales at a svelte 3,056 lbs (1,390 kg), making this the lightest 911 of the current generation.

No ducktail for the S/T. But there is plenty of lightweighting.

Enlarge / No ducktail for the S/T. But there is plenty of lightweighting.

Bradley Iger

Adding power and cutting weight are certainly welcome developments for performance enthusiasts, but it’s the raft of subtle, less quantifiable changes that make the S/T such an incredibly compelling sports car. Porsche’s goal was to create the ultimate canyon carver rather than an apex-hunting track machine, and as such, it has tossed the GT3’s rear axle steering system and retuned the suspension dampers for the less-than-perfect tarmac that’s typical of twisty backroads.

To further ratchet up driver engagement, engineers reduced the height of the shift lever by 10 mm, resulting in even shorter, more precise throws. The transmission’s gear ratios were shortened by 8 percent to allow the engine to climb to its searing 9,000 rpm redline more rapidly, resulting in more frequent shifting. There’s a new lightweight clutch and single mass flywheel on board, too.

The latter plays a surprisingly big role in the S/T’s distinctive character, allowing the engine to sweep through the revs with a level of manic urgency that makes the GT3 Touring seem almost lazy by comparison. And thanks to the S/T’s reduced sound deadening compared to the GT3 (which already has significantly less sound deadening than a 911 Carrera), every mechanical process that normally takes place behind the scenes is brought to the forefront. It can equate to noisy steady-state driving at times, but the soundtrack that the S/T delivers when you’re rowing through the gears easily makes up for it.

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