Porsche has been spotted testing some prototype examples of the upcoming 911 Turbo S facelift, dubbed the 992.2, out on the Nurburgring in Germany. And rumours suggest they could be the first 911s to adopt electrified technology.
Yep, a hybrid 911. In 2018, Porsche said the 911 platform could adopt hybrid power somewhere down the line. Ahead of the 992’s release, model line director August Achleitner said: “Two years ago I’d have said no way. Today I wouldn’t categorically rule it out.”
Late in 2017 Porsche CEO Oliver Blume was quoted as straight-up confirming the importance of a plug-in hybrid 911. He said: “We will come with the plug-in hybrid with the next battery generation and with the next evolution step. It will be very important for the 911 to have a plug-in hybrid.”
That was back in 2018. Fast forward to today and the tail end of the 992’s lifecycle could indeed adopt electrical assistance. These Turbo or Turbo S prototypes sure do look like they offer enormous low-end grunt. But that’s just the 911 Turbo way, we guess.
Straight out of the blocks from the first turn at the start of the video, the driver shifts up a gear towards the end of the corner exit and the instant torque kicks the car sideways momentarily. Now, this could obviously be achieved in any high-torque vehicle when upshifting a bit early. However, a possibility here is an electric motor is providing the additional kick.
We could pretty much rule out that these prototypes are plug-in hybrids though, because as part of the German 2015 Electric Mobility Act, electric vehicles and PHEVs offering a range of more than 30km are eligible for special conditions on roads, and can feature a number plate with the letter ‘E’ at the end. Of course, Porsche may choose not to feature such plates on its test mules.
Either way, the facelifted model is expected to be a typical evolutionary step, with incremental improvements in pretty much all areas. The current 911 Turbo engine, a 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six, develops 427kW while the Turbo S produces a monstrous 478kW. If hybrid assistance were to come in, we’d anticipate up to and potentially beyond 500kW.
In other areas the facelift is expected to bring in some tweaks to the design, mainly around trimmings and non-integral fixtures such as the spoilers, intakes and headlights and taillights. We should also anticipate some new wheel designs.
The interior is likely to be revised as well, with the possibility of the gear selector stalk being repositioned to the dashboard, like on the just-revealed 2024 Cayenne, with (hopefully not) a fully electric gauge cluster in front of the driver in the latest curved theme.
Of course, this is all speculation at this point as Porsche is yet to officially confirm anything. A full debut will probably take place in the coming months, perhaps the second half of this year. Click play below for a preview.
