Porsche's fast, new hybrid 911 is a hard sell for its rabid fanbase
The legendary sports car marque's new, faster 911 has lit a fuse with enthusiasts on social media.
Porsche (POAHY) has unveiled the newest iteration of its most iconic model, adding a huge change that keeps it up-to-date with current-day automotive technology.
Though the new car is faster and more efficient than previous iterations, some fans feel betrayed, thinking that the Stuttgart brand has turned its back on what made their precious little sports car so special in the first place.
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In a live-streamed keynote announcement on their YouTube channel, the German sports car brand unveiled the newest iteration of its iconic sports car; the 911. As anticipated from a prior announcement, Porsche showcased the brand's new magnum opus: the 532 horsepower 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid.
Powered primarily by a turbocharged 3.6-liter flat-six engine, the new powertrain uses technology borrowed from the brand's racing cars to enhance the way the engine behaves. While other Porsche Carrera models use a twin-turbo setup, the GTS T-Hybrid uses a cleverly designed single turbocharger lifted from its Le Mans cars. The T-Hybrid system in the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Porsche
Porsche says that this turbocharger contains an 14.7 horsepower electric motor designed to help the turbo deliver power more consistently and more efficiently while only adding about 103 pounds to the previous car. Combined with a 32.6-hp traction motor between the engine and its eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, the result is quicker acceleration and better engine response, while still adhering to emissions standards.
In a statement to automotive blog CarScoops, Frank Wiesmann; Porsche's U.S. spokesperson said that the sudden shift to racing-bred hybrid technology was made in response to tightening emissions standards that the brand will have to face in the future.
“The main goals of the T-Hybrid system were meeting future emissions standards while further improving engine response and performance and also keeping the weight of the 911 in a range similar to the existing car to preserve the agility, balance and feel,” Wiesmann told CarScoops.
The Porsche 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid is not the first hybrid system that Porsche has ever fitted to a car. Currently, they offer the Panamera sedan, as well as the popular Cayenne SUV, in plug-in 'e-hybrid' forms.
However, other "modernization" decisions that Porsche made — such as offering all 2025 911 models with only a paddle-shift double-clutch automatic — have struck a cord with enthusiasts on social media who had some very strong feelings about the brand's direction.
Below a post about the 2025 Porsche 911 losing the manual gearbox by The Drive on Instagram, user @stevetheass commented, "It’s about time Porsche! The rest of the auto industry went [LGBTQ+ pride flag emoji] few yrs back and have been waiting for you to join. Now you are officially a [LGBTQ+ pride flag emoji] brand like the rest. Congratulations.
On the same post, @gradyr8 commented "catastrophic failure to understand their target market." while user @sam_abdul81 wrote that Porsche is "trying to cater to young rich kids who don’t know how to drive a stick."
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Former fashion designer and noted vintage Porsche collector Magnus Walker invited Instagram users to express their thoughts on the new 911 in the comments sections of a recent post, where enthusiasts also sounded off on their grievances.
In the comments, user @jnr_smiffy said, "I feel they have totally lost what a 911 is meant to be it’s now just a heavy, turbocharged and electrified sports car plus no manual anymore."
Meanwhile @andrewhake said, "They need to stop building cars for people that only care about driving them to the coffee shop."
However, user @9elevenist gave some rationale; comparing the introduction of the new hybrid system as just another evolution of the car's 61-year history.
"A further step in the development history of the 911. Air-cooled - water-cooled. Naturally aspirated engine - turbo engine, now hybrid," the user said. "There will always be those who dislike the new step. I'm one of them [smile emoji]."
Porsche has the 2025 911 Carrera GTS and other 911 Carrera models available for configuration in coupe, cabriolet and targa forms on its website. Pricing for the 2025 911 starts at $120,100 for the 911 Carrera coupe before destination charge, while the hybrid GTS starts at $164,900 before destination charge.
At the time of this writing, Porsche, which trades on OTC markets under POAHY, is trading at $5.30, down 2.21% today.
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