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Shortly, Porsche will launch its latest generation of 911, named internally '992'.
Arguably the most usable sports car ever created, since the Porsche 911 arrived in 1963 there has been seven generations of greatness. No other supercar has had the same impact as Porsche’s flat-six confection; with more than a million examples sold so far, the 911 has touched the lives of more enthusiasts than any other high-performance car.
Over more than five decades Porsche has produced a mind-bending number of 911 derivatives; this is the story of the 911, from the beginning:
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The Original 911 (1963)
When the 911 made its debut in 1963, nobody could have predicted just what an icon it would become. This quirky evolution of the 356, with its rear-mounted air-cooled flat-six, was like nothing else at the time – and that’s just how things have stayed. This is an early prototype.
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Ferdinand ‘Butzi’ Porsche - The maker
The 911 was created by Ferdinand ‘Butzi’ Porsche - grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, seen here with that very same prototype. Sadly he died in April 2012, just a year before the 911 celebrated its 50th birthday.
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Frankfurt, 1963 – The 911 breaks cover
The wraps were taken off the 911 at the 1963 Frankfurt motor show – where it was unveiled as the Porsche 901. However, Peugeot objected to the name, on the grounds that it had claim on any three-digit car name with a zero in the middle. Porsche hastily renamed the car, and 50 years on '911' is still with us.
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An early example of the production car
Those first cars were fitted with a 128bhp 2.0-litre (1991cc) engine that gave an impressive top speed of 131mph…
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Option 912
…but if you fancied all the style with a little less urge there was a cheaper option from 1965 – the four-cylinder 912, with a 90bhp 1582cc flat-four mated to a four-speed gearbox. This was also the year in which the first right-hand drive 911s were built for markets like Britain, Japan, and Australia.
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S for more
If you preferred to go the other way and enjoy some extra power, in 1966 Porsche introduced the 158bhp 911 S, which was the first to feature those now-legendary Fuchs forged alloy wheels. There were also ventilated discs and a rear anti-roll bar.
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Targa motoring
Another car which would become a legend, if not necessarily for all the right reasons, was the 911 Targa, also introduced in 1966.
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Glass back Targa
At first the Targa featured a soft-top behind the roll bar, but from 1968 a fixed glass rear window became optional – by 1971 it was standard for all Targas.
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911 Sportomatic
Another 911 was introduced in 1967, which would become unloved in time – the Sportomatic. With its four-speed semi-automatic gearbox, the car had few fans, but they’re now bought for their novelty value – or to be converted into more desirable manual editions.
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911T or 911L
Porsche had a busy year in 1967, as it also introduced the more afordable 911T, with a 110bhp flat-six and a four-speed gearbox. In the process, the regular 911 became the L, with a five-speed gearbox and dual-circuit brakes.
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Regulations and the 911E
The big news for 1968 was the fitment of fuel injection to the newly introduced 911E, although the 911S would get it too. The move allowed Porsche to become the first German manufacturer to comply with strict US exhaust emission control regulations.
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Handling matters better
The handling of early 911s was very twitchy; from 1966 there were cast iron weights behind the front bumper to help tame the handling. In 1968 came a better solution; the wheelbase was stretched by 2.2 inches, the engine block was lightened and twin batteries were fitted ahead of the front wheels for better weight distribution. Porsche also offered air conditioning as an optional extra for the first time on a 911, crucial for markets like the US.
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Heat of the competition
In a bid to ensure the 911 stayed one step ahead of rivals, Porsche increased the displacement of the 911’s flat-six to 2.2 litres (2195cc) in 1969; this was also the year in which the 912 was killed off – although it would return later.
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Increased displacement capacity
Porsche upped the ante once again in 1971, when it increased the capacity of the flat-six to 2.4 litres. Well, that was the official displacement, but with a swept volume of 2341cc, we’d say it was more of a 2.3-litre unit...
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The duck-tail spoiler
What came in 1973 is the 911 that most enthusiasts now covet – the rare and fantastically valuable 911 Carrera RS 2.7, with its 207bhp engine, sub-1000kg kerb weight and that charismatic duck-tail rear spoiler. Which incidentally, was the world’s first rear integral spoiler on a production road car.
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Generation G (Second Generation, 1973)
Ten years after its premiere, the engineers at Porsche gave the 911 its first thorough makeover. The G-Series model was produced from 1973 to 1989; longer than any other 911 generation. It featured prominent impact-absorbing bellows bumpers, an innovation designed to meet the latest crash test standards in the US, and something that at the time was hated almost universally by 911 fans.
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The first major overhaul
One of the upgrades incorporated in the transition to second-generation 911 was the standardisation of a 2.7-litre (2687cc) engine for ‘cooking’ editions. It was at this point that the optional ‘whale-tail’ spoiler superseded the previous ‘ducktail’ offering.
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For the spirited souls
For those who wanted something much hotter than a regular 911, Porsche introduced the 3.0 RS and 3.0 RSR in 1973. Just 109 were made, 50 of which were track-only RSR editions.
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911 goes Turbo
What came next left Porsche nuts in awe; the arrival of the 911 Turbo in 1974. With a 256bhp 3.0-litre engine and prominent rear spoiler, the car was searingly quick but suffered from horrendous turbo lag, and it was notorious for catching out inexperienced drivers.
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The conservative 912E
The 912E marked a brief return for the four-cylinder 911 in 1975. Equipped with a fuel-injected 90bhp 1971cc VW engine it was aimed at economy-minded 911 buyers, but there were precious few of those which is why just 2,089 were sold.
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Competition closing in
By 1975 the 911 was in danger of losing ground to rivals, which is why it got a 3.0-litre powerplant in place of the previous 2.7-litre unit. As a result there was now a healthy 200bhp on tap.
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Expanding the base
For 1977 there was a new entry-level 911, the 3.0-litre SC. Now among the most affordable of all 911s, these early cars had just 180bhp, but by 1980 that figure had jumped to 204bhp.
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Intercooler era
The next big performance jump came in 1977 with the intercooler-equipped 911 Turbo 3.3. Its power output of 296bhp was the best in its class; it was still fearsome to drive, and now even faster.
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A Carrera for the city
In 1983 the 911 3.2 Carrera superseded the SC; with a 228bhp 3.2-litre engine it became a firm favourite among the city set – especially in Cabriolet form which was offered from 1982.
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911 Speedster, the Porsche Cabriolet
Until the arrival of the Cabriolet, the 911 had never been offered in drop-top guise; open-air enthusiasts had to make do with the Targa. But from 1989 there was the option of a 911 Speedster, inspired by the legendary 356 of the same name.
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964 Generation 911 (Third Generation, 1988)
Just when automotive experts were predicting the imminent end of an era, in 1988 Porsche came out with a new 911; the 964. After 15 years of production the 911 platform was radically renewed with 85% new components, giving Porsche a modern sportscar fit for several years’ more service.
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Same yet different
The 964’s air-cooled 3.6-litre flat-six delivered 247bhp; almost twice as much as the first 911. Externally, the 964 differed from its predecessors only slightly, in its aerodynamic polyurethane bumpers and automatically extending rear spoiler, but internally it was almost completely different.
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Something for everyone
The new model came with anti-lock brakes, power steering and airbags, plus the option of a Tiptronic automatic transmission. All those things were just what the poseurs wanted; the die-hard enthusiasts were more taken by the fact that the car was based on a completely redesigned platform with light alloy control arms and coil springs instead of the previous torsion-bar suspension.
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Carrera 4 wheel-drive
Although the regular 964 was a great step forward over its predecessor, it would also be a turning point for Porsche because it was the first 911 to be offered with four-wheel drive – the Carrera 4 was launched in 1989.
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Closer to their roots
For an encore, Porsche would go on to introduce the Carrera Coupé, Cabriolet and Targa, while from 1990 customers could also order the 964 Turbo (seen here). Initially powered by the proven 3.3-litre flat-six engine, in 1992 the Turbo was upgraded to a more powerful 355bhp 3.6-litre powerplant. Today, the 964 Carrera RS, 911 Turbo S, and 911 Carrera 2 Speedster are particularly sought after by collectors.
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993 Flowing into curves (Fourth generation,1993)
The 993, launched in 1993, was the first 911 to look as though it had melted in the sun – and the last to be fitted with an air-cooled engine. The integration of all the panels – not least of all the bumpers – meant the 993 looked sharper and more modern than any 911 yet. The nose was lower than ever, thanks to a switch from round to poly-ellipsoid headlights.
Crucially though, the 911 was as beautifully built as ever and as good to drive as to look at thanks to a newly designed aluminium chassis.
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Turbo times two
The 993 Turbo was the first 911 to have a twin-turbo engine, giving it the lowest-emission production automotive powertrain in the world in 1995. The hollow-spoke aluminium wheels, never before used on any car, were yet another innovation of the all-wheel drive Turbo version.
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Track scorching GTs
Meanwhile, the 911 GT2 made even the 993 Turbo look tame; if ever there was a car worthy of the road racer tag, this was it. The fastest, lightest, most costly of the 911 derivatives, the GT2 had a 430bhp (later boosted to 450bhp) 3.6-litre flat-six, and could despatch the 0-62mph sprint in just four seconds.
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Tasteful Targas
If luxury was more your bag, once again there was a Targa version of the regular 993, but in place of the removable roof panel which had come to characterise the breed, the fresh air was now let in via an electric glass roof that slid under the rear window.
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Boxer engine 996 (Fifth generation, 1997)
The 996, built between 1997 and 2005, represented a major turning point for the 911. It retained all the character of its classic heritage, but was an entirely new car. The first to be driven by a water-cooled boxer engine, with four-valve cylinder heads it could generate a very useful 296bhp and broke new ground in terms of reduced emissions, noise, and fuel consumption.
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Revival instincts
The exterior design was a reinterpretation of the classic lines of the 911, but with a lower drag co-efficient of just 0.30. The lines of the 996 were also a result of component sharing with the hugely successful Boxster – the car that prevented Porsche from sliding into bankruptcy. The 996’s most obvious exterior feature were the headlights with integrated indicators, at first controversial, but later copied by many other car makers.
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For creature comforts
On the inside, drivers experienced an entirely new cockpit, with comfort a far more important characteristic than before; no longer was the 911 great for hard driving only.
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Forces of multiplication
With the 996, Porsche launched an unprecedented product offensive with a whole series of new variations; we’d seen numerous 911 derivatives before, but this time the array was truly bewildering. The 911 GT3 became one of the highlights of the model range in 1999, keeping the tradition of the Carrera RS alive.
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Ceramic braking GT2
However, it was the 911 GT2 of 2000, the first car equipped with ceramic brakes as standard, and marketed as an extreme sports machine, which has become the most collectable of the breed. There was still a twin-turbo 3.6-litre engine, but it was now rated at 483bhp.
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997 - Taking the past forward (Sixth generation, 2004)
In July 2004 Porsche unveiled the next-generation 911 Carrera and Carrera S models; the 997. The clear oval headlights with separate indicators in the front apron were a visual return to older 911 models, but the 997 offered more than just style. It was by now a seriously high-performance car, with its 321bhp 3.6-litre engine; those buying a Carrera S had 350bhp to play with.
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Back to the engine drawing board
In 2006, Porsche introduced a new 911 Turbo, the first petrol-engined production car to include a turbocharger with variable turbine geometry. This new 3.8-litre powerplant was rated at 500bhp; it was the first all-new engine in the history of the 911 Turbo. Despite endowing the 911 with a 194mph top speed, its CO2 rating was just 268g/km when mated to a seven-speed PDK transmission.
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PDK incoming
A model update in the autumn of 2008 made the 997 even more efficient thanks to direct fuel injection and the Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) dual clutch transmission.
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Spoilt for choice
Porsche had always offered 911 buyers a huge array of choices, but with the 997 it went just a little bit mad. Of the ‘standard’ models, buyers could choose between Coupe, Targa or Cabriolet bodystyles, with a choice of rear or all-wheel drive – there were also manual or automatic transmissions…
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As you liked it
…fans of the 997 didn’t have to stick with a standard model though; by the time production was wound up in 2011 there had been no fewer than 24 different variations on the theme. These included the Turbo, GTS (seen here), special models, and road versions of GT racing cars.
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Peak power GT3 RS 4.0
One of the most collectible 997 derivatives of all is the 911 GT3 RS 4.0. With production restricted to 600 examples, each car came with a 500bhp normally aspirated 4.0-litre engine, that peak being reached at an incredible 8250rpm.
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Lethal weapon GT2
While the 911 GT3 RS 4.0 was a monster of a machine, it still couldn’t eclipse the mighty 911 GT2. Still featuring a twin-turbo 3.6-litre engine, the 911 GT2 now packed a prodigious 523bhp and 500lb ft of torque. With a 0-62mph time of 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 210mph, driving one was like piloting a missile…
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For the select few
Before the 997 bowed out there was just time to squeeze in another special edition, but this was was rather exclusive. Called the 918 Spyder Edition, only those who had been successful in securing a 918 Spyder could buy one. Based on the 911 Turbo S and priced at €173,241 (€184,546 for the cabrio), we suspect few took the opportunity...
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991 From a scratch (Seventh generation, 2011)
When Porsche replaced the 997 with the 991 in 2011, it made more of a leap than anybody thought possible. Featuring an all-new platform (only the third ever in the 911’s history), the 911 was more efficient than ever before. It was dynamically even more adept too, and featured a much more ergonomically efficient interior.
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Best of both worlds
The 991 broke all the rules because while it was faster than ever, it was also more fuel efficient. Much of this was down to the fact that motive power was now supplied by a 3.4-litre engine in the Carrera model (even though it developed 5bhp more than the revised 997 3.6-litre), and also to its hybrid steel/aluminium construction, which significantly reduced the kerb weight.
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For those celebrating exclusivity
Never one to miss an opportunity to create a special edition, Porsche introduced the Club coupé in May 2012, to commemorate 60 years of Porsche clubs in Germany. In 1952, 13 Porsche owners founded the first club for the marque, which is why just 13 examples of the Club coupé were made, based on the 911 Carrera S with a Powerkit upgrade to 430bhp.
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50 year landmark
Rather less exclusive than the Club Coupé is the special edition released to celebrate half a century of 911 production – the 50 Years Edition. Limited to 1,963 examples, this special was based on the Carrera S coupé. That meant a 400bhp engine, rear-wheel drive, with buyers able to choose only the interior and exterior colour schemes, plus the transmission – manual or PDK.
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The third GT3
Half a century after the first 911 was shown, Porsche showed its third take on the GT3 formula. Fitted with a 475bhp 3.8-litre engine, the 991 GT3 could run all the way to 196mph and despatch the 0-62mph sprint in just 3.5 seconds. Porsche crowed about the fact that the car could get round the Nürburgring circuit in under 7 minutes and 30 seconds, which seems laughably slow now...
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Celebrating turbos with more turbos
Timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original 911 Turbo prototype being shown at the 1973 Frankfurt motor show, the 520bhp 991 Turbo made its debut in 2013, alongside the 560bhp 911 Turbo S. These editions had the distinction of being the widest road-going 911s yet produced, at 1,880mm (74in).
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Reimagining the Targa, again
Porsche returned to its roots with the launch of the 991 Targa. The first Targas had featured a fixed roll bar with a removable roof panel, but this became little more than an over-sized sunroof in later models. With the 991, Porsche came up with a complicated mechanism that saw the roof panel stowed electrically beneath the rear window, with the roll bar finished in brushed aluminium to contrast with the rest of the paintwork.
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More power to the 991
Porsche set the cat among the pigeons in 2015 with the launch of a heavily revised 991 – with even the non-Turbo models now featuring a turbocharged engine. The result was an extra 20bhp for Carrera models (now 370bhp) while the Carrera S was rated at 420bhp.
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By virtue of exclusivity
Limited to 991 examples worldwide (and an instant sell out), the 911 R will go down in history as one of the all-time great 911s. Powered by a 500bhp naturally aspirated 4.0-litre engine, the 911 R was fitted with a six-speed manual transmission, could just about top 200mph and weighed 1370kg – which is 50kg less than a GT3 RS.
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One million milestone
Porsche achieved a major milestone in May 2017, when it built its millionth 911. The company claimed that of all the 911s built up to that point, 70% were still on the road. Finished in Irish Green, the Carrera S was retained by Porsche for its museum.
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Darting quick GT2 RS
Porsche unleashed the most extreme 911 yet in June 2017 – the 700bhp GT2 RS. Using the twin-turbo 3.8-litre engine from the Turbo S, the £207k machine scooped the Nürburgring record almost immediately, getting round the 20.6km circuit in just 6 minutes 47.3 seconds.
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One for the keepers
The pace of 911 development shows no sign of abating, with a 607bhp version of the Turbo S launched in June 2017. Called the Exclusive Series and limited to 500 units worldwide, vital statistics included a price tag of €260k, a top speed of 330kmh (206mph) and a 0-62mph time of 2.9 seconds.
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Back to basics
The most recent 911 release is the Carrera T, a back-to-basics model with a stripped-out interior, lightweight glass and sports suspension that’s lowered by 20mm. The turbocharged 3.0-litre flat-six is pegged at 365bhp and the kerb weight at 1425kg (20kg less than normal) to give 256.1bhp per tonne. Order yours now; prices start at £85,576 in the UK and $102,100 in the USA.
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Next is 992 (Eighth generation, 2018)
The new eighth-generation model made its public premier at the Los Angeles auto show on 28 November 2018. The 992 is claimed to offer a significant advance in structural engineering, with a newly developed platform which it will share with the next Audi R8 and next Lamborghini Huracán.
As ever with the 911, the styling is evolutionary – but the new car comes with a heavily revised range of six-cylinder turbo petrol engines that are more powerful than before. In the new rear-wheel-drive Carrera S and four-wheel-drive Carrera 4S, the reworked powerplant delivers 30bhp more than before, at 444bhp. Together with the revised gearing of the new dual-clutch gearbox, this results in a 0-62mph time that’s 0.4sec faster for both of the new 911 launch models, at 3.7sec for the Carrera S and 3.6sec for the Carrera 4S. Looking forward, it seems that the 911 will receive its first hybrid engines at the 992's mid-life facelift in around 2022.
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