Porsche reportedly plotting ‘purist’ 911

The purists have spoken and Porsche, it seems, has been listening.

The German performance car marque is set to give the people what they want by offering a new ‘purist’ edition of the 911 – in a similar vein to the hugely popular 911 R (pictured) but without limited build numbers.

Porsche R&D boss Michael Steiner has told Autocar he sees “potential for more purist versions of sports cars with no limitation” on production numbers.

Porsche has been forced down the path of fewer manual and/or naturally-aspirated vehicles as it targets greater performance and stricter emissions. The shift in focus saw the 911 R gain seemingly unprecedented attention in 2016, selling out all 991 versions in a snap, some of which have since attracted ridiculous money on the used market.

Clarifying Porsche’s position on pure sports cars, Steiner said it was important to produce 911s that are “fun on the road, not just the track”.

“What we learned [from the 911 R] is that there are more and more customers who enjoy pure, fun-to-drive sports cars. Porsche always has some limited as well as unlimited sports cars. For pure sports cars, there’s no need for limitation,” he said.

Speculation is now mounting on whether Porsche will fulfill Steiner’s pledge in the current 911 model line, or the next generation, which is due in two years and could reportedly include a plug-in hybrid variant.