Porsche's all-turbo 911 ready

Porsche is ready to reveal its first all-turbo 911 Carrera range at the Frankfurt motor show in September, powered exclusively by downsized turbocharged six-cylinder boxer petrol engines.

Heralded by an evolutionary new front-end design, the facelifted 991 Series II line-up will debut at Porsche's home motor show in entry-level 911 Carrera coupe and cabriolet form.

They will continue the base 911's steady downsizing from 3.6 to 3.4 litres for the current 991. Our sources say the entry-level Carrera will revive the 2.7-litre capacity employed by 911s in the 1970s and '80s.

The turbocharged flat six will therefore share its capacity with the current entry-level Boxster /Cayman in the base 911, but will be all new, lifting output from 257kW to as much as 300kW while reducing fuel consumption from 8.2 to less than 8.0L/100km.

Meantime, the Carrera S will downsize from an atmo 3.8 to a turbo 3.4, hiking its peak power from 294kW to more than 300kW.

Turbo, Turbo S and GT2 versions of the facelifted 911 will keep their big-bore 3.8 turbo sixes, leaving just the purest, most track-focussed GT3 and GT3 RS variants as the only exceptions to the new all-turbo 911 rule.

Production and sales of the 991 Series II supercar is unlikely to commence until early next year, when the first 2016 911 models will begin to be available in Australia.

Product Line Director for Porsche's 911 Turbo, Carrera 4 and Targa, Dr Erhard Mossle, told motoring.com.au the current 991-series 911 will remain in production until the end of this year.

"This is the last one," he said last week at the launch of the new 911 Targa 4 GTS, which brings to 21 the number of current 911 variants.

"And then we start again."

The Targa 4 GTS and GT3 RS will be the final two 991-series variants to arrive in Australia, in the third quarter of this year, completing the current 911 model range in the absence of a GT2 variant this time round.

Dr Mossle said a 991 Series II GT2 was under consideration.

Asked if the facelifted 911 will form the basis of even more derivatives in future, including a hybrid version, Dr Mossle said:

"That's enough. It's too early for hybrid."

In line with Porsche tradition to completely renew its iconic 911 only every second generation, Dr Mossle said the next-generation '992' 911, which Porsche has already started work on ahead of its launch by 2020, will be engineered for hybrid power.

He said the level of hybridisation will dictate how much change Porsche applies to the 991-series platform, which was all-new when released in 2012 and package-protected for hybrid power.

"992 or whatever we call it won't be as big a change as 997 was to 991. The change will be dictated by [hybrid] powertrain requirements."

Engine downsizing and electrification will therefore be a key part of Porsche's efforts to meet ever-tightening emissions standards, given significant weight reductions – such as the 100kg weight loss it achieved with the 991 – will not be possible with a fundamentally unchanged platform.

Indeed, both technologies will be vital for the 911 not to go backwards in terms of efficiency as Porsche is forced to add weighty new technologies not currently available in the 911, which has a base weight of just 1420kg in GT3 RS form, such as autonomous emergency braking and head-up display.

As one of many Volkswagen group brands alongside Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini, Porsche has its own specific internal CO2 target in order for the German giant to meet an overall fleet average of 95g/km, as mandated in Europe by 2020.

"If CO2 targets get even tighter in 2030 and beyond, we won't be able to do it without electrification," said Dr Mossle.

To that end, Porsche will continue to roll out its plug-in hybrid technology with the Macan S E-Hybrid.

Meantime, the next-generation 911 will incorporate the world's first horizontally-opposed petrol-electric hybrid powertrain, employing technology from its 919 Le Mans racer and the 918 just 3.0L/100km and a 0-100km/h acceleration of just 2.6 seconds.

Porsche has confirmed a replacement for the limited-edition 918 flagship itself, up to five of which would have been sold in Australia if not for the $300,000-plus luxury car tax charge. Just one example of the million-dollar left-hand drive hyper car resides Down Under, in New Zealand.