The Porsche911 According to the CEO of the German brand, Michael Leiters, it will not go fully electric anytime soon.
One of the world’s most iconic sports cars, the 911 is known for its rear-mounted six-cylinder petrol engine. It is still offered with a manual transmission, but the 911 received its first hybrid powertrain in 2024.
At the time, Porsche said it would gradually electrify the 911 and eventually offer the legendary model as an electric vehicle (EV), but that plan appears to have changed due to declining demand for electric vehicles.
“We will continue to invest in electric mobility, but a 911 will not become electric,” Leiters said in a commentary translated from German by Autoblog.
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“Future viability must be assured through combustion engines and hybrid technology.”
Having previously ruled out a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain for the 911, the company has restored combustion power to the upcoming next-generation 718 Boxster and Cayman sports cars, abandoning plans to make them electric-only.
The current 911 hybrid uses an electric motor integrated into the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission to increase the power of the 3.6-liter six-cylinder engine.
Mr Leiters was speaking at an event organized by the German publication Auto Motor and Sportswith the comments following Porsche’s wider retreat from its EV expansion plans, led by the Taycan electric sedan and estate.
“With the Taycan, we were pioneers in electromobility,” Leiters said, suggesting that the global rollout in 2019 – and the Australian launch in 2020 – came too early.
According to reports from Europe, the Taycan nameplate could be on the chopping block.
“Porsche remains open to all technologies. Porsche was a pioneer in e-mobility; the Taycan was a flagship project and an excellent product. But the timing was not ideal; we were apparently too fast with e-mobility.”
The Taycan was Porsche’s slowest selling model in Australia last month, with seven sales matching the Panameraexcluding the Boxster/Cayman, where shares dried up as part of a depletion ahead of a replacement expected in 2027.
The brand also switched its global best-selling Macan SUV to electric-only power in 2025, completely axing internal combustion versions.
The move coincided with a 10 percent decline in global sales by 2025, with former CEO Oliver Blume – now head of parent company Volkswagen Group – suggesting the strategy was “unsustainable”.
It has also scrapped plans for a three-row SUV, codenamed ‘K1’, which will be offered exclusively with electric power. There are now plans to offer this with hybrid and combustion engines.
“Our strategy was to offer combustion engines, hybrids and electric sports cars in each of our three segments – but not for every product,” Mr Blume told the German newspaper. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung earlier this year.
“We were wrong about the Macan. Based on the data available at the time and our assessment of our markets, we would make the same decision again.”
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