Our spy snappers spot hard-top and soft-top 911 variants undergoing more winter testing
The upcoming 992.2-series Porsche 911 has just been spotted testing in Sweden (again), thankfully this time without the gross stuck-on fog lights.
It’s clear the updated 911 – spied by our photographers in both coupe and cabriolet forms – will indeed take after the ballistic Turbo variants with a new horizontally-slatted front bumper and what could well be active air intakes behind it.
The rear of these prototypes is still masked in a dense layer of black camouflage, but odds are the design is also being made butcher and simultaneously slipperier.
No amount of camo can hide the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4-esque exhaust outlets that we first saw in February last year; prompting speculation of the base 911 making a return to natural aspiration – possibly via the aforementioned GT car’s screaming 4.0-litre boxer six.
Theories of mainstream 911s ditching their turbos – perhaps as a last-hurrah before strict new Euro 7 emissions regulations come into force for all new cars launched in Europe from July 2025 – were validated by anonymous insiders claiming this to be exactly the case for the 992.2-series 911.
While a downsized normally-aspirated flat six is possible, we know the 4.0-litre powerplant is compatible with the current 911 platform – ala GT3 and GT3 RS – although its outputs would be watered down somewhat compared to the aforementioned Cayman, which churns out 309kW/430Nm; comfortably more than the base 911’s 283kW/440Nm.
Even more shove will be on tap for the gutsier Carrera S and GTS. For reference, the Cayman GT4 RS uses the same GT3-derived engine, albeit to the tune of 368kW/450Nm.
Either way, Porsche is clearly taking its time to ensure the 992.2 update is done properly, given it’s been almost 12 months since we last saw the base prototypes testing and even longer since a disguised Turbo was spied.
GT3 and GT3 Touring prototypes have also been spotted winter testing in recent weeks, though we haven’t received those images yet.
Given the reducing levels of camo, we expect the facelifted core 911 variants to make their public debut later this year, before the updated GT variants emerge in the following months.
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Keyword: 2023 Porsche 911 sheds camo in Sweden