Electric cars don’t excite kids, but a Porsche 911 with a loud engine definitely does
Phil McNamara discusses how a blast in a Porsche with his kids proves the emotional pull of petrol engines is alive and well
Swooping through verdant corners, then wringing out the howling six-cylinder engine to launch along the straights, I hit upon the fix for an issue that’s long vexed the car industry. Young people aren’t interested in cars any more. They are if you take them for a blast in a Porsche 911 Carrera.
“Go fast, dad,” giggled my 12-year-old. “It’s so nice when I feel the engine’s vibrations!” Seeing their emotional connection with Porsche’s flat-six was joyous.
What makes a true Porsche? The sportiest dynamics, high performance and – far more than the firm imagined four years ago – a combustion engine. As he bids to revive profitability, new CEO Michael Leiters has shown his blueprint for the future: a mid-engined hypercar concept, the Mission S.
Porsche isn’t confirming its drivetrain, but Dr Leiters is clear on one thing: “There won’t be a battery electric vehicle on the super-sports car platform, because there is no demand in the segment for a BEV.” R&D boss Michael Steiner theorised there could be a lightweight, pure petrol version, or – like the new 911 Turbo S – a 400V hybrid, using electricity to boost performance and run active chassis systems.
In 2022, flying high off strong initial Taycan sales, Porsche predicted that 80 per cent of its volume would be pure electric by 2030. The decision to make the new Macan strictly electric has starved it of new-car revenue, and triggered penalty payments to suppliers geared up for larger orders of the zero-emission SUV and its saloon brother. Porsche’s new prediction for EV volume in 2030? 33 per cent.
Not that Porsche is abandoning electric. The new Cayenne Turbo Electric, with up to 1,140bhp, is absolutely mind-blowing to drive. And the steering, throttle and brakes of the Macan 4S we’ve driven this week feel Porsche through and through.
Electric cars have many advantages over ICE cars. But as I was being flung around Porsche’s test track in the upcoming electric 718 Boxster, the artificial – but highly realistic – sound was synthesised from a flat-six engine. Because emotion is fundamental to sports cars, and their beating heart is a shaking, buzzing combustion engine. Leiters vows the 911 will never go electric. I’m not sure regulators will allow that indefinitely. But he’s got three young advocates on his side – the sports car buyers of tomorrow.
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