Porsche Vows 911 Will Keep Its Roaring Engine as Long as Possible

Stefan Nicola, Bloomberg News

Oliver Blume, right, and Lutz Meschke during the Porsche IPO in Frankfurt on Sept. 29. Photographer Alex Kraus/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Porsche AG may be carving out a new future after pulling off Europe’s biggest listing in a decade, but the sports-car maker vowed that one thing will remain the same: The 911 running on gasoline.

Asked whether Porsche would electrify the iconic model introduced in 1964, Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke said while the company could flexibly react to new regulation, it’s reluctant to change the 911.

“It’s the core, it’s the heart, it’s the soul of our company,” Meschke said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Tom Mackenzie in Frankfurt. “We want to drive the 911 as long as possible with a combustion engine.”

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Porsche shares debuted Thursday in Frankfurt, raising €9.4 billion ($9.1 billion) for parent Volkswagen AG, with another hint the iconic model is here to stay after the carmaker chose P911 as its ticker.

While the Taycan electric vehicle outsold the 911 last year, the gasoline car remains Porsche’s most profitable model. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the 911 makes up almost 30% of the company’s earnings on just 14% of unit sales. The 911 has a starting price of €113,492 in Germany.

“We can live very well” with the 911 as a combustion-engine car, Meschke said. “It’s very successful.”

(Adds 911 starting price in fifth paragraph.)