The Strategic Stupidity of Porsche: "The 911 will definitely be the last, if ever, to be electrified"

[simcity]

Much as I admittedly enjoyed the howl of a well sorted petrol engined sports car on the past: times have changed fellas!!

You risk becoming strategically irrelevant.

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[tigerbalm]

Great, now go make a two door Taycan.

 

[Ompre]

If Porsche is really interested in building the best racing car, they would give the Cayman GT4 the ride of the 911 GT3. But no, they don’t do it to keep 911 ahead of Cayman. Tells also a lot about Porsche buyers. Not interested in the perfect product, only interested in status cars.

 

[TaycanCook]

Isn't the tweet from the same person who cried wolf about the battery?

 

[simcity]

Isn't the tweet from the same person who cried wolf about the battery?

I've no idea. However the quote from Michael Steiner is attributed to this article in MotorTrend where Steiner was speaking at something called the Rennsport Reunion 7...so genuine.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/porsche-electric-718-sound-911-hybrid-timing/

 

[RingoDingo]

Much as I admittedly enjoyed the howl of a well sorted petrol engined sports car on the past: times have changed fellas!!

You risk becoming strategically irrelevant.

At some point in the not so distant future, they will create a car (maybe even a Taycan coupe) that is superior to the 911 in every discernable way... handling, power, power delivery, steering, balance, weight, etc., and they will still create 911s because people will want to hear an engine and row their own gears. I'm OK with that.

 

[kempez]

They're keeping the brand cachet intact. They know that a lot of Porsche 911 buyers will afford the future fuels (e-fuels and derivatives), and will buy an ice car over an EV. So they'll reserve the 911 for those type of enthusiasts, of which I suspect there will be a significant number and every other car in the range will go to EV.

 

[RGBArgee]

Much as I admittedly enjoyed the howl of a well sorted petrol engined sports car on the past: times have changed fellas!!

You risk becoming strategically irrelevant.

I disagree- the 911 should remain petrol only and become a classic. Let it morph into an EV but not a 911!

 

[Racer_Ex]

From a business standpoint I think it makes perfect sense. There is a category of buyer who will pay a huge premium for an ICE car in the future. And as others have suggested this will retain the legacy/cachet of the brand and the car that really put it on the map so to speak.

 

[gramorris]

Is it not the case that conceptually the main difference between the Cayman and the 911 is the engine position. That does become moot with an EV where there's no way round getting all the battery weight in the floor.

It'll be interesting what the EV Cayman looks like but it might not be too much smaller than a 911 anyway, maybe it'll come with the option of baby seats where the ICE engine would've been.

 

[Chas1]

Much as I admittedly enjoyed the howl of a well sorted petrol engined sports car on the past: times have changed fellas!!

You risk becoming strategically irrelevant.

It’s obvious that demand for a 911 ev would be through the roof, by all means keep churning out ICE versions too there will be a demand but an ev will be quicker handle better and so cheap to run - frankly it will be irresistible for Porsche to maje

 

[DougFrisk]

They're keeping the brand cachet intact. They know that a lot of Porsche 911 buyers will afford the future fuels (e-fuels and derivatives), and will buy an ice car over an EV. So they'll reserve the 911 for those type of enthusiasts, of which I suspect there will be a significant number and every other car in the range will go to EV.

I suspect that the 911 will never be electrified, but at some point soon, Porsche will introduce a 2 door electric sports car that will become the new top end car. I suspect the Taycan is a first pass at that car. Put a Taycan Turbo S next to a 911 Turbo S and in many respects the Taycan is simply the better car already except on a track where the Taycan's excess avoirdupois hinders it. With 2 more generations of battery technology the weight issue will be solved and the ICE 911 won't be able to keep up anymore.

 

[Sidicks]

I suspect that the 911 will never be electrified, but at some point soon, Porsche will introduce a 2 door electric sports car that will become the new top end car. I suspect the Taycan is a first pass at that car. Put a Taycan Turbo S next to a 911 Turbo S and in many respects the Taycan is simply the better car already except on a track where the Taycan's excess avoirdupois hinders it. With 2 more generations of battery technology the weight issue will be solved and the ICE 911 won't be able to keep up anymore.

The whole point for Porsche is that a Sports car isn't about ultimate lap times, it's about feel, handling, involvement etc.

You can help mitigate the weight issues that EVs suffer from by placing the batteries low and with instant torque, performance can outdo the ICE, but the delivery is totally different and the driving experience also very different.

However, whether a Taycan Turbo S is faster than a GT3, for example, is 100% missing the point. And Porsche understands this.

I have no doubt that Porsche will build an EV 'Sports car' and this may well accelerate and lap faster than the top 911. However, there will still be huge demand for an ICE 911 (and Cayman).

 

[CxM]

The EV Cayman will be their test of the market and how they develop it will determine if they make another EV sports mode to slot between the EV Cayman and 911.

I think its mainly the weight of batteries as the issue, if next gen batts. can solve this, I see Porsche developing other EV sports models.

Their Mission X could be their next hypercar, with EV tech from Rimac. This could also trickle down to their 911 or others.

 

[DGW]

GTS will be my last EV in general, and If the time has come with the possibility of converting my Taycan to an ICE with a GT series engine, I'd be more than happy to do so. matter of a fact Porshe should simply launch a hybrid or PHEV Taycan

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