Wednesday 29th March 2017

Next Porsche 911 spy shots

Business up front, party at the back - is the next Porsche 911 actually a mullet on four wheels?

---

Spy shots of a new 911 testing at the Nurburgring aren't on the face of it something to break the internet. And, indeed, from the front and three-quarter views there's little to suggest more than just a new 991 variant out for a shakedown.

Our friends at the spy photo agency seem a little more excited by this one though; indeed they reckon they've bagged their first shots of the all-new 911 out for its initial Nordschleife test session. If so that IS a rather big deal. What do we know about it?

Um, not a lot. Given how early we are in the car's development it's perhaps not surprising it looks at first glance rather like a 991 with a few bits of black tape stuck on. Not that we'd be expecting a drastic departure from the familiar 911 face either - time may have dulled the shock value of the 996's 'fried egg' lights but Porsche won't have forgotten the outcry in a hurry so expect business as usual up front. In one of the shots it's even lifting an inside front wheel in the classic rear-engined Porsche style, though we'll put that down to the camber change entering the mini-Karussell rather than a return to more traditional 911 dynamics.

Seemingly based on a C4 widebody shell with GTS rear bumper vents, the test mule gets more interesting at the back. Here we have a thin lighting strip in keeping with the more radical looks of the new Panamera. Above it is a deployable rear wing - nothing new for 911s given this was introduced on the 964 but much bigger than any we've seen before and running the full-width of the car. There's a hint of McLaren 675LT or 720S about the wing's shape in fact - difficult to say from this batch of shots whether it'll do a full range of movement like the McLarens or just switch between open and closed as before but it's clearly going to be a major styling and technical feature of the new 911. And difficult to hide on the mules. Some lengths have been devoted to disguising the area between the two paired exhausts too, suggesting further aero work to the rear of the car. The front deck, meanwhile, looks to have a more 'textured' surface and a return to a square-fronted hatch flush with the top edge of the bumper - retro nods AND new Panamera influence in one there.

Beyond that hard to say but the size of the radiators up front say turbocharging (no great surprise given we've already made that leap) and we'll take a punt on the taped over access panel behind the passenger door being for plug-in charging of some sort, it being widely tipped that the next 911 range will in some way benefit from electrical assistance. Good news if horsepower is your measure of interest, at least going by the 680hp Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. Bad news if you prefer your sports cars simple, light and back to basics. But perhaps inevitable given the way things are going.

Bit early to say what the GT3 version might look like or whether it will remain the sole torch bearer for naturally-aspirated 911s. Experience shows it might be worth dropping a letter of intent off at your local OPC just in case though.

[Photos: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien]

[sidesauce]

In before comments saying its boring or complaining about weight.

This will simply continue the line Porsche walks - making the 911 sit at the top of its segment.