Our trusty spy photographers caught an interesting Porsche testing at the Nurburgring and the suggestion is that it’s a hybrid version of the 911 Turbo.
Beyond the blacked-out rear and rear-side windows, our spy photographers draw our attention to the yellow sticker at the top of the rear window. This is a sign within the industry that an automaker is testing something electrified.
More to the point, internal sources confirmed that this was an early test mule of an electrified 911 Turbo. They told our photographers, though, that this wouldn’t be a plug-in hybrid and would instead be charged entirely via energy recuperation.
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Frankly, there’s good reason to think that a hybrid 911 is on its way. Beyond the Volkswagen Group’s love of all things electric, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume told Autocar in 2018 that an electrified 911 might be on its way and the platform could certainly house all the necessary additions. He also suggested that the car would be good for more than 700 hp (709 PS/521 kW).
Now, Blume also said (more recently) that the 911 would be Porsche’s last car to go all-electric, if it ever did at all, but an EV and a hybrid are two different things. A hybrid supercar with a six-cylinder engine close to the back wheels should sound pretty familiar today thanks to the McLaren Artura and the Ferrari 296 GTB.
Those cars might even provide the mold for how a 911 could be electrified without adding too much weight. Both of the above-mentioned examples have very wide angle V6s (not quite 180º, but still) and an electric motor that fits between the engine and the transmission to save space.
While the Ferrari makes a pretty stunning 819 hp (830 ps/610 kW), the Artura makes just 671 hp (680 PS/500 kW), which would mean that Blume’s ballpark figure of 700 hp (709 PS/521 kW) would be perfect for competition with the McLaren.
Unfortunately, since this is still an early prototype, we may have to wait a little while before all of this car’s secrets are revealed. But if this is, indeed, a hybrid 911, I can’t wait to see the three-car showdown videos that will inevitably ensue.
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