- The Porsche 911 now sits almost 10 inches longer than the original
- Porsche's chief designer said the 911 should be "as small as possible"
- Making the 911 smaller would be difficult, but creating a smaller car for purists could happen
At 179 inches, the current 992-generation Porsche 911 measures almost 10 inches longer than the original icon launched in the 1960s.
That has not gone unnoticed by Porsche design chief Michael Mauer, who in an interview with Drive published on Tuesday said he would love to create smaller sports cars, and that the 911 should be as small as possible.
However, he said a lot of the reason for the increase in size over the years has been due to evolving regulations, plus huge increases in performance which in turn requires increases in the size of chassis components like the wheels, brake hardware, and more.
In his interview, he also pointed out that people are also getting bigger and that today's buyers also want more space in their cars, even if it is a sports car.
Michael Mauer
“This is very challenging, especially for me, since I believe a 911 sports car should be as compact as possible,” he said. “I would love to see where are the boundaries, how far could we push this to come back to a very compact little sports car.”
Keeping the 911 small will only get more difficult as the level of electrification increases to meet regulations. However, Mauer said as the technology becomes more advanced, it should also become smaller. He said even electric vehicles will get smaller, as battery density improves and rapid charging infrastructure grows enough to convince buyers to opt for smaller batteries.
While the 911 may not get much smaller in future generations, Mauer in 2020 expressed his desire for a small, lightweight sports car designed for purists. The car wouldn't necessarily be cheap, he said, but it would be simple in design and likely devoid of most of the luxuries you normally find in a modern Porsche.
