Porsche 911 to get mid-engined version and major design change

Porsche seems poised to make the biggest conceptual change to the design of the 53-year-old Porsche 911 and for the first time put a mid-engined version on sale.

Porsche Motorsport’s manager of high-performance cars, Andreas Preuninger, told Autocar: "There is nothing coming soon, but in the mid-term don’t rule it [a mid-engined 911] out." He added: "I think that adding some excitement to the car in this way wouldn’t be bad."

Preuninger’s boss, Frank Walliser, confirmed there was significant customer interest in such a car. Porsche Motorsport has a proud tradition of listening closely to its customers, one reason why a manual gearbox is now once more available on the latest 911 GT3.

The mid-engined 911 will be comparatively easy for Porsche to produce, not least because the car already exists in racing RSR form and proved its potential by coming second in the Daytona 24 Hours on its first outing. There is no issue with rear seats because GT 911s have always been homologated as two-seaters. And now that Porsche has just one Motorsport engine that's used in everything from the standard road GT3 to the ultimate mid-engined racing RSR, engineering the car should be relatively simple.

Moreover, despite the fact that the normally aspirated 4.0-litre engine already produces 493bhp and revs to 9000rpm, it has considerable additional development potential. Walliser says the most they’ve seen so far is 608bhp with the engine "screaming on the bench".

Quite what the mid-engined 911 will be called is unclear. It could have an all-new name, adopt the same RSR acronym of its racing counterpart or use one of the existing road car names.

What is certain is that Porsche doesn't think the car is in any way heretical to the 911 brand. When asked if Porsche could really call such a car a 911, Walliser replied simply: "We already do."

Updated Porsche 911 GT3 gains manual gearbox and 9000rpm redline

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