In an era when purists detest anything remotely related to battery electric vehicles and electrified motoring, the addition of hybrid technology to the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS moves this private school sports car deep into hardcore supercar performance territory.
Slower than a family sedan
Back in 2011 when we got our hands on the first Porsche 911 Carrera to wear the GTS badge, the car featured a howling 3.8 litre naturally aspirated flat-six powerplant producing 300kW of power and 420Nm of torque.
These figures saw the car hit 100km/h from rest in 4.86 seconds and 200km/h in 17.21 seconds, with a 1km speed of 225km/h. Not exactly slow, but very much on par with the high-performance family sedans offered by BMW M and Mercedes-AMG back then.
It was certainly not nearly enough to challenge the car that the performance world was going gaga over at the time, Nissan’s groundbreaking 357kW/588NM, 3.8 litre, twin-turbo GT-R.
It hd a 0 to 100km/h time of 3.43 seconds, a 0 to 200km/h time of 12.11 seconds and an almost unheard of 250 km/h in 1km of tar at Gerotek when we tested it. These two cars were not in the same league when it came to performance figures.
Turbocharging added to the mix
Fast forward a few years to 2017 and the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS now also offered forced induction and a 3.0 litre twin-turbo flat-six powerplant. Power on tap increased marginally to 331kW, while the torque jumped to 550 Nm.
This saw the tested times tumble – 100km/h from standstill now only took 3.62 seconds. And the 200km/h run was down to 12.17 seconds.
The 1km speed came in at a Nissan GT-R equaling 250 km/h. The Porsche 911 Carrera GTS was no longer just family sedan fast.
Instant power and torque
But then came the game changer and 2024 saw the addition of electrification to the Porsche 911 Carrera model range.
An integrated electric motor was positioned between the compressor and turbine wheel. This allowed the turbocharger to spool at lightning speeds when called upon.
Another electric motor was integrated into the eight-speed dual clutch transmission. Both these electric motors were duly coupled to a compact high-voltage battery capable of storing up to 1.9kWh of energy.
The configuration allowed for 40kW and 150Nm of instant electric power and torque, meaning you now had 398kW and 610Nm on offer from this 3.6 litre, flat-six, single turbo set-up.
Unbeatable electrical zing
The output figures not be that impressive straight off the bat. Especially when you consider that the final iteration of the Nissan GT-R offered a full 408kW and 632Nm. And family sedans now produce over 500kW and 1 000Nm.
But in typical Porsche fashion the 911 has always been a car that punches well above its weight. The figures that flashed up on our Racelogic VBOX test equipment were nothing short of impressive.
The tested 0-100km/h and 0-200km/h times came up in a mere 3.07 seconds and 10.36 seconds respectively. A terminal speed of 250 km/h was attained in a mere 800m of road.
It is clear to see that the 992.2 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS you see here has not only turned the tables on Nissan’s once unbeatable GT-R, it’s also substantially quicker than any GTS generation that came before.
