Porsche 911 GTS Hybrid: An Icon Electrified

Landing in sunny Malaga, Spain, I cannot help but shake this overbearing feeling that the Stuttgart firm has spoilt the Porsche 911 broth by adding hybrid technology to its perennial sportscar. Yes, when this was announced a few years ago, I was anything but enamoured. ‘Why take a perfectly balanced sportscar recipe and add weight,’ I pondered to myself. These preconceived ideas have incessantly percolated in my mind since. There was only one way to ascertain whether the engineers had done enough to allay my concerns or whether they had truly committed a sacrilegious move. Drive the end product! 

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The 911 commemorates 61 years since its unveiling in 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show of the Porsche 901, which was soon after changed to the 911 following Peugeot’s objection that any three-digit number where the middle number is zero is part of its naming convention, thus asserting ownership of this. This bore one of the most iconic sportscar nameplates in history and remains the benchmark to this day. 

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Porsche has taken many pioneering steps to make the 911 not only the most focused sportscar but also more practical, usable, and efficient. Okay, the latter is perhaps not what your typical 911 buyer shouts about from the rafters, but it is great to have your proverbial cake and eat it. In 1972, for example, the marque introduced lightweight construction to the 911 with the RS 2.7, which is the forebearer and blueprint of the GT and RS 911s. 1988 saw the Carrera 4 bring all-wheel-drive to the 911, while 2008 saw the first PDK gearbox offered in the 911, duly replacing the lacklustre torque converter that came before. The all-rounder 911 Turbo in 2013 received an active aero kit that has since been the staple of the Turbo, a testament to the heightened performance that this model continues to dole out with each iteration. In 2022, the 911 Dakar came along, which we managed to put through its paces at its international media launch in Morocco early last year and remains the wildest conditions we’ve ever subjected a sportscar to. 

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It’s now 2024, and the 911 has reached yet another milestone in the form of the GTS t-hybrid. As mentioned, this marks the first time that a 911 gets a hybrid system and, thankfully, it’s a clever system that enhances rather than detracts from performance. Unlike the tradition for the GTS models to come slightly later in the model’s life cycle, this new GTS is the exception and brings a whole raft of new stuff to the 911 portfolio. For starters, it has an all-new powerplant: a 3.6-litre flat-six turbo petrol engine that debuts in this model and is good for 357kW and 570Nm. An enlarged bore of 97mm and an increased stroke of 81mm increase the displacement by 0.6 litres compared to its predecessor. The engine boasts the firm’s much-vaunted VarioCam camshaft control and a valve control with rocker arms. Unlike the 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six it replaces, this new motor has a single, electronically boosted turbocharger augmented by an electric motor—located in the 8-speed PDK gearbox—to arrive at a total system output of 398kW and 610Nm. 

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What is impressive about the hybrid system is how compact the packaging is and how seamlessly integrated the system operates. For instance, even at idle speed, it supports the boxer engine with extra drive torque of up to 150 Nm and provides a power boost of up to 40 kW. Porsche couples both electric motors to a lightweight and compact high-voltage battery. It corresponds in size and weight to a conventional 12-volt starter battery, but stores up to 1.9 kWh of energy (gross) and operates at a voltage of 400 V. For an optimised overall weight, the engineers have installed a lightweight lithium-ion battery for the 12 V on-board electrical system. The electric motor itself weighs 27kg and, together with the rest of the hybrid ancillaries, only adds an overall 50kg of weight to the latest GTS model compared to its forebear. That, by today’s standards, is an almost negligible figure, especially considering the benefits of the system’s performance. 

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On the road, there are very negligible differences from its predecessor, save for the transition between the engine and electric motor, which in itself is imperceptible and can only be detected on the infotainment screen by the various graphics. To truly find the breadth of new talent that the GTS t-hybrid has to offer, we were let loose on the pristine, Ascari private racetrack in a gaggle of the 911 models. Grabbing the model by the scruff of the neck and dialling everything up to Sport+ displayed just how resolved the model remains in the handling department, but it is arguably the overall performance boost that truly leaves you stupified. That electric motor’s ability to torque fill at the bottom of the rev range means you can drive out of corners with such a zesty and fizzy-filled bout of speed that the 992 Turbo S lead car driven by a very experienced driver trainer could hardly shake off the hard-charging GTS, such is the new performance envelope of the latest model. It is thoroughly rapid, decidedly grippy, and succinctly geared towards extracting every iota of performance at its disposal. 

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In line with the newfound performance repertoire, the new GTS comes with a new set of running shoes as standard in the form of 245/35/ZR20 up front and 315/30/ZR21 at the rear. These play a pivotal role in lending prodigious grip levels and clean purchase off the line, and you would be hard-pressed to try and unsettle this thing. The ride height has been lowered by a further 10mm compared to the standard Carrera and is key to the GTS's superior handling prowess. Brakes can be optioned in carbon ceramics, which measure 420mm up front, clamped by a 10-piston calliper setup. These have been lifted wholesale from the 911 Turbo S and, once again, speak volumes about the new GTS’s new performance disposition. 

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Slicing through the narrow, undulating roads of the Spanish island, the GTS feels ever so poised, the suspension breathing with the road in spite of the wider, low-profile tyres shod to our test car. This is yet another feather in the 911’s cap, pointing to its everyday usability as you trudge along doing mundane daily commutes. Dig deeper into its dynamic abilities, however, and you are met with a thoroughbred sportscar that coerces you to find yours and the vehicle’s limits, the latter of which is quite lofty indeed. Front-end grip is immense, and I preferred the uncorrupted steering feedback of the rear-wheel-driven GTS, which I’m told remains more popular compared to the four-wheel-drive variant and all the better for it. It presents a playfulness to the chassis that will be appreciated by the enthusiastic pilot. It is a rewarding steer that will have you grinning with glee at each turn of the wheel. The flat-six bark might not be as vocal as before, but there are enough decibels to keep both your ears and adrenal gland properly stirred. 

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Cosmetically, the new model sports a revised front valance that sees the indicators now integrated within the headlights, while vertically arranged active cooling flaps aid both in aerodynamics and cooling, depending on requirements and applications. For instance, these will be closed during moderate driving conditions and enhance aerodynamics, while spirited driving in conditions such as a racetrack will see said flaps ajar to provide much-needed cooling to the oil coolers and brakes. The rear has also been given the once-over, chief of which is the GTS model-specific lower valance that now boasts centre-located twin sports exhausts as standard. Optionally, Porsche offers the new headlights with an HD matrix LED function with more than 32,000 light points. The high-performance high beam illuminates the road to a distance of more than 600 metres.

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Meanwhile, sliding into the cabin exposes an updated interface, as seen in both the Cayenne and Panamera, which sees the instrument cluster now being fully digital, including the tachometer. It’s clean, crisp, and clutter-free. This was necessary as the four-pod layout with the analogue tachometer taking centre stage meant some of the driver info was unfortunately obstructed by the steering wheel. Gone too is the left-mounted “twist ignition key” in favour of a start button, which breaks with racing tradition where the key could be twisted with the left hand while engaging gears simultaneously with the right hand during endurance race starts like Le Mans back in the 70s. That said, everything else remains as driver-centric an environment as we have come to expect from the 911. The new 911 Carrera can be ordered now as a Coupé or Cabriolet with rear-wheel drive. For the 911 Carrera GTS, all-wheel drive and the Targa body variant are exclusively offered with PDK as standard. Seeing the potential of this new 3.6-litre hybrid turbo engine, one can only wonder if the Turbo S will adopt this in likely a higher state of tune; only time will tell. 

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The GTS, in my view, has always offered the best of both worlds in the 911 portfolio: everyday usability with sporty styling and performance—the sweet spot in layman’s terms, if you will. That hasn’t changed with the latest model, but the notched-up performance quotient now gives the GTS even more performance that snaps too close to the heels of the Turbo S, which begs the question: how much quicker will the 992.2 911 Turbo S be when it's introduced? The mind boggles!

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