Porsche’s iconic 911 has changed dramatically over the past few years, and it turns out those changes were just the beginning.
For starters, you can’t buy a new, naturally aspirated 911; it’s turbocharging or nothing. Of course, this means the “911 Turbo” is really just a way of saying, “this is a faster 911,” but that’s a conversation for another time. We can also expect to see a gas-electric hybrid Carrera hit the market next year. And now we’re getting rumors of an RSR-derived mid-engined Porsche 911 — if the German automaker bends to the whims of its customers.
Fortunately, not all of the 911’s heritage is being discarded. Porsche will offer its track-focused GT3 with a manual transmission once more (the standard gearbox was discontinued on the 2017 model year sports car).
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There’s one more bit of good news for 911 fans: Porsche has confirmed its GT2 will return as the bonkers performance machine we know and love. It’s been six years since Porsche’s last 911 GT2 (which happened to be an RS model), but Porsche CEO Oliver Blume told CarAdvice that a new model is on the way. Blume kept most of the car’s juicy details to himself, but he did say that the GT2 will be rear-wheel drive, turbocharged, and will come exclusively with Porsche’s PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission (womp womp).
As for power, Blume didn’t share numbers, but did mention that the new GT2 will achieve new levels of output. With the last GT2 churning out 620 horsepower, it sounds like the next generation is going to be absolutely mental.
Not only will the new GT2 be the most powerful 911, it will also be the most expensive. Each of the 500 GT2 RS units went for $245,000 in 2010, and if the new version is just as rare, it could nudge the $300,000 mark. Chances are, we’ll get our first peek at the uber-911 during September’s Frankfurt Motor Show.