Porsche 911 Hybrid Is Still At Least Four Years Away

Porsche used the Los Angeles Auto Show to introduce the all-new 911 Carrera S / 4S and it will eventually be joined by a handful of other variants including a new 911 Turbo and GT3.

Introducing all these new models will take some time and we’re finally learning when we’ll see the 911 Hybrid. Speaking with Auto Express, Porsche 911 product line director August Achleitner said “It will be the next evolution of this car [and] that means at least four years from today.”

This suggests the 911 Hybrid won’t arrive until the facelifted model is introduced around 2023. That’s a pretty long delay, but Achleitner hinted it could be worth the wait. As he explained, “When I am thinking about a hybrid version of the 911, I do not mean like the Panamera or Cayenne, I mean like the 919 Le Mans car.”

His exact meaning remains unclear, but the publication believes the model won’t have a plug-in hybrid powertrain. Instead, they believe the 911 Hybrid could have an exhaust energy recovery system and a lithium-ion battery which powers an electric motor mounted to the front axle.

Of course, that’s just speculation at the this point and Auto Express says there’s a lot of internal debate about the hybrid. A lot of the discussion appears to involve the battery as engineers are reportedly unhappy with the weight and performance capabilities of existing battery technology. The situation is expected to improve in the future, so that appears to be one of the reasons the 911 Hybrid is still at least four years away.

Fans who don’t want to wait can settle for the 2020 911 Carrera S which will arrive in U.S. showrooms next summer. Pricing starts at $113,200 and the model has a turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six engine that produces 443 hp (330 kW / 450 PS) and 390 lb-ft (515 Nm) of torque.