The chances of the much-mooted Porsche 911 plug-in hybrid becoming a reality are strengthening.
While still far from confirmed, the CEO of Porsche Matthias Mueller at the Paris motor show overnight used his most favourable public language yet in favour of a petrol-electric version of the iconic sports car.
But Mueller also made it clear that a 911 hybrid wouldn't be seen for some years until the next-generation launches (as opposed to a facelift due in the next two years).
"Maybe in the next generation. Why not?" he said moments after unveiling the Cayenne S E-Hybrid SUV. "There is no reason against it and we will see whether we have some reasons to do it. "In the 911 there is no decision up to now, we are doing some studies to see whether it can work, whether it will work, we will see."
Mueller said the reputation of the car would play an important role in the decision on opting for hybrid power.
"We have to take care for our 911 customers and the image of the car because that is a very important decision and we have to do a lot of analysis before we decide that."
But it is the hybrid version of the 911 which has been a discussion point for at least 12 months, as Porsche faces up to the challenge of marrying performance with the ever-more stringent emissions and fuel economy limits.
"This hybrid technology has two reasons," Mueller said. "One is the CO2, but another reason for this technology is the sportiness.
"As we have proved with the 918 Spider, with a super sports car it can work, and that could also be a solution for 911."
A boxer four-cylinder engine is already under development for the Boxster and Cayman two-doors that form the traditional Porsche sports car sales-base.
The 2.5-litre turbo-petrol engine is expected to debut in next year's mid-life update for both cars, which like the 911, are exclusively boxer six-powered right now.
An adaptation of that engine for use in a hybrid 911 would make sense because it would help resolve the rear-engined car's packaging issues, as well as continue to drive down fuel economy while aiding performance.
The same set-up could also be used in the mid-engined Boxster and Cayman.
"It could be," said Mueller of a four-cylinder-hybrid combo. "We have a lot of opportunities but we cannot do everything because we are only a small company."
The Cayenne, Panamera and forthcoming Macan system uses a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine allied with a lithium-ion battery pack, but Porsche sources insist using an adaptation of such a system in the boxer-powered sports cars would be sacrilege and would never happen.
Mueller said the timing of hybrid introductions depended on the development and production schedules for individual models.
"It depends on the life cycle and the cycle plan of Porsche, so that [Cayenne] is the next opportunity to do that and another opportunity will be in 2016 the Panamera again.
All the latest news and video from the motoring.com.au team at the Paris motor show
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