Porsche's Hybrid 911 Is Finally Coming After 3 Million Miles Of Testing

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Porsche likes to make a big stink about the fact that Ferdinand Porsche developed the world’s first hybrid drive car, the Lohner Porsche Semper Vivus, around 125 years ago. Back in 2010 the company raced a hybrid-drive 911 GT3 R, and shortly after released the hybrid hypercar 918 Spyder. A few years ago Porsche said that by 2025 half of its sales would be plug-in hybrid or full battery-electric. Making a hybrid variant of the company’s iconic 911 sports car seems like the next step in that process, and after years and three-million miles of testing, it’s ready to step into the lime light.

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“For the first time in our icon’s 61-year history, we are installing a hybrid drive system in a roadgoing 911. This innovative performance hybrid makes the 911 even more dynamic,” Frank Moser, Vice President Model Line 911 and 718 said. “We left nothing to chance during development and tested the new 911 under all sorts of conditions all over the world from the freezing cold to scorching heat, as was the case during the final stages of testing in Dubai. Whether at a high drivetrain load in the demanding conditions of mountain passes or in the stop-and-go traffic of an urban environment, the new 911 has mastered even the most difficult challenges with aplomb. All in all, our engineers and test drivers clocked up more than 3.1 million miles of development driving.”

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Porsche stuck racing driver Jörg Bergmeister into the car and prodded him to provide a representative lap time at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, which he did in seven minutes and 16.934 seconds. When compared to the old Carrera S, the new hybrid was 8.7 seconds quicker on the lap. If you want something to compare it to, Timo Glock drove a 997-generation 911 GT2 RS to a lap time of seven minutes and 18 seconds. Yeah, this hybrid machine is going to be fast.

The company hasn’t released too many details, but it seems the standard 911 Hybrid is going to replace the current 443-horsepower Carrera S in the lineup. There’s no word yet on pricing or power, but it’s probably going to touch 500 ponies, and touch $150,000 or more. The car will make its uncamouflaged debut to the world on May 28. Check back for more at that point.