Although Porsche has created a wonderful electric car with the Taycan, it is also fully committed to preserving the (atmospheric) combustion engine. Ironically enough, electrification can play a key role in this, 911 chief Frank-Steffen Walliser thinks.
For many brands it seems to be the most normal thing in the world to have electrically powered cars slowly but surely replace cars with combustion engines. It’s very different for a brand like Porsche. A Taycan is a nice addition and contributes to lowering the average CO2 emissions of the range, but a 911 should simply have a boxer engine. Frank-Steffen Walliser previously indicated that he will not see an electric 911 happening for a long time. A hybrid 911, an intermediate form, is also out of the question. “Hopefully that will only happen after I retire, then I can no longer be looked at”, were his words that cannot be misunderstood.
Yet the same Walliser explains according to Autocar now that an intermediate form is going to be important. He recognizes that in the long run the combustion engine will become more and more at stake, but that electrification can help to preserve it. It can also get around the fact that eventually all 911s will have a turbo engine: “An electric motor for the low revs and an atmospheric combustion engine for the high revs, that would be a perfect match. That could help the naturally aspirated engine survive,” said the German. . Lower emissions and fuel consumption and yet sporty performance.
It must then be able to be properly packaged in, for example, the 911, because there are of course disadvantages. Walliser previously emphasized that the added weight and the tight engine compartment in the 911 are currently still ‘deal breakers’ to develop a hybrid variant. Nevertheless, the former Porsche Motorsport CEO now seems to be looking a bit more positively towards electrification.