Tupper

It is true that having a sports car pedigree is key to Porsche’s brand and pricing.

Thus they have to be very careful to keep the 911 around as long as possible, and at the top of its game. Could the Taycan have the same impact as the 911? It’s fast, but it doesn’t have several major wins at Le Mans under its belt. It may never have the same cache

I for one am bummed out that the 718 will be going electric. I mean, that’s still very much a driver’s car. It comes in a NA version and a manual. What a loss

Hormazd Dalal

BMW spent millions on a Hydrogen car. They had a couple of 7 series tooling around LA for a year.

aquatone

Tell me about it. I drove the Hydrogen 7-series - and the performance of hydrogen would disappoint anyone here. It's going nowhere. Same with Tyoyota and the Mirai. I maintain that the market is not interested in new types of synthetic fuel, nor hydrogen. If Porsche is spending millions on synthetic fuels then they are wasting their money or it is narrow and contained markets where electric is less feasible. For mass adoption in major markets, the tipping point has tipped, everything is going to electric with hybrid as the bridge.

Tupper

^ Just hold on there for a second:

Porsche's Clean Synthetic Fuel Will Be Ready Next Year

FEB 19, 2021 BY SEBASTIAN CENIZO TECHNOLOGY / 53 COMMENTSThe e-fuel could prolong the life of the internal combustion engine.

As impressive as the Porsche Taycan is, the recent reveal of the new 911 GT3 reminds us that internal combustion is simply better. It speaks to us as gearheads, and a car without an engine or gears doesn't tickle our fancy as much as one that rumbles and burbles. Fortunately, the people at Porsche are just as interested in keeping the combustion engine alive and have committed tens of millions of dollars to developing a clever synthetic fuel in partnership with Siemens Energy. We first reported on this late last year, but now Porsche has announced that the ingenious new fuel could be available as soon as next year.

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Speaking to Autocar before this week's GT3 reveal, Porsche sports car boss Frank Walliser said, "We are on track, together with our partners in South America. For sure, in 2022, it will be very, very small volume for the first trials. It's a long road with huge investment, but we are sure that this is an important part of our global effort to reduce the CO2 impact of the transportation sector."

The development of these e-fuels on an industrial scale is in its first phase, called Haru Oni, and is set to use southern Chile's strong winds as part of producing the fuels in a clean manner. Thus, the fuels will be truly clean, not just in their combustion, but in their production too.

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12 Ridiculously Rare Sports Cars

Chrysler's Most Stylistic ConceptsThis plant should be in operation by 2022 and is expected to produce 55 million liters of synthetic fuel by 2024 and approximately ten times that volume by 2026. The fuels won't require any changes by motorists either, and is being fine-tuned so that they can be used on any modern combustion engine. In addition, Walliser says that, in some cases, the e-fuel provides more power than regular petroleum but with "less particles, less NOx". The overall goal is an expected CO2 reduction of around 85 percent, thanks to efficiency being the main focus from production and transportation to combustion.

The bottom line is this: the future could still have the wondrous sound of an internal combustion engine. Don't let us down, Porsche.

https://carbuzz.com/news/porsches-cl...eady-next-year

markchristenson

I think plans for Porsche to be an "nearly pure" electric car company will come through fully electrifying everything except the 911 and Boxster/Cayman, and hybridizing those. The sport cars only account for 16-18% of the total sales anyway.

sexfiend

The denial is insane. Go test drive a Taycan and see whether Porsche will delay electrifying the 911.

ipse dixit

No, actually it's more accurate to say Porsche builds SUVs so that it can sell 911s.

Marantz2270

I've test driven a Taycan Turbo. It was a great car and obviously very fast!

I also don't think that the 911 will be fully electric even in the next generation (feel free to save this post and rub it in my face if I am wrong in a few year's time). I don't give a s#!+ either way, I just don't think it will happen. The 911, iconic and symbolic as it is for Porsche, is a niche product in their lineup already, and the company is pretty in-tune with the with the enthusiasm and desires of the 911's following and customer base. As such, I think that if Porsche continues to have willing customers for an ICE 911, they will make and sell it.

Again...I don't care either way. Times change, and if Porsche converted the 911 into a full-on EV by the next generation, well then I'll be wrong and things changed faster than I thought.

It's possible to think events will unfold for a car differently than claimed without it being outright denial. This is the aspect of talking about EVs I find a tad insufferable. It's like talking politics...so smug and polarizing. We can all have different opinions about this without accusing each other of sticking our heads in the sand!

PS - I read the whole WSJ article, and the line about Porsche being on its way to be a nearly pure electric-car company by 2025 is interesting, but I couldn't find further info in the article to substantiate that specific claim. Fine if it turns out that way, it just seems to be thrown in there. Whatever, let me know if I missed something.