Again.
Where do you go if you have a sports car to test? The Green Hell, of course. From Ariel to Zenvo, anyone who is anyone tests their fast stuff at the Nurburging Nordschleife. Porsche is no exception, as we well know, and we’ve got more proof of that. As if we needed it. Then again, if you were about to electrify one of the most famous combustion-powered sports cars of all time, wouldn’t you do a lot of testing?
Porsche clearly thinks so, as this video of the new Porsche 911 tells us. With the Porsche 718 Cayman eventually going electric, steps are being taken to ensure the 911 range survives the electric revolution intact. Don’t go sharpening any pitchforks or lighting any torches yet, however. Porsche has told us before this new hybrid 911 will only use electricity to bolster performance, not to increase efficiency.
As you can surely tell by the video, the newest 911 certainly doesn’t sound any more “electric” than when we saw it last. That’s largely because of Porsche’s stance on hybridization with the 911. We’ve seen close-ups of the new 911 testing, and we’ve yet to spy a single plug-in port on the thing. Porsche has even confirmed the newest 911 won’t be a plug-in.
So, how is that hybrid system going to work? Based on the videos and spy shots we have, we’re betting it’s going to be something like the Audi RS6 Avant’s 48V mild-hybrid system. You can hear the speed at which downshifts are ripped off in the video, and our bet is that PDK-equipped 911s will use the hybrid battery as torque-fill for the already-quick gearbox. As for the likely stick-shift car, who knows?
It remains to be seen how 911s with a manual transmission will work in the new hybrid system. If it is a 48V, we imagine it’ll be tough to use it for torque-fill duties when the driver is the one controlling the clutch. But if the people that make a backward sports car can make that work, who’s to say they can’t also make a stick-shift, hybrid, rear-engine sports car?
While testing, we also got a look at the new P-car’s cooling vents in action. They looked to be in a more aggressive open position than when we spied it testing in the snow, but it’s tough to tell for sure. Strangely, the 911 Hybrid test car is still sporting the mismatched rims we’ve seen it use on previous outings. For now, those are still a mystery.
