2025 - page 60

Look, I’m a sucker for a nice shade of silver, always have been. I’ve owned three cars in varying shades of grays and silver over the past 20 years. There’s a reason why classic fighter jets and sleek yachts all rock some shade of metallic grey. It’s timeless, sophisticated, and lets the car’s lines do the talking. Now to celebrate the Turbo’s five-decade legacy, Porsche is ditching the gold crest for their Turbo lineup with a new "Turbonite" accent color? Sign me up. We saw it first on the Panamera Turbo last year, a subtle hint on the trim. But at Monterey, with the introduction of 50th Anniversary 911 Turbo S? Now that’s a match. The shade is clean, a departure from the usual chromey silver. They even got New York-based Pantone Color Institute involved to come up with this shade, which is some serious exclusivity cred.

Porsche has been serving up peak performance and luxury for decades, and their Turbo models have always represented the pinnacle of performance that you can actually use on the road. The first turbocharged 911 dropped in ’74 and blew everyone’s doors off. It became a legend, a symbol of pushing boundaries. Now, Porsche’s taking that same spirit and applying it to the entire Turbo lineup with this sleek, metallic grey they’re calling Turbonite, a color that we first saw on the 2023 Panamera Turbo and subsequently, the Macan EV Turbo.

Back in 2019, Porsche finally took a leap into the electric future with the Taycan, a sleek and powerful EV that proved sports sedans could be both thrilling and eco-conscious. Seeing an opportunity to carve its own path in the electric performance sedan market, sister-brand Audi followed suit with the e-tron GT, its second electric offering after the fat e-tron SUV, built on the same J1 platform developed by Porsche.

There is an obvious pattern when it comes to Porsche introducing its new 911 variants. There is a version of the rear-engine sports car for everyone, but when a new 911 comes out, we don’t get all variants at once. Things are not much different for the 992.2 update, although there is one big difference. For 2025, we got the first Porsche 911, powered by a hybrid powertrain, and this changes a few things in the Porsche 992.2 lineup. Models that are typically offered from the start will now take longer to arrive, and this includes the best-selling 911 variant – the Carrera S. This has everything to do with Porsche’s hybrid 911 variants, which sometime in the next two years, will be joined by the first hybrid Porsche 911 Turbo. Despite working on keeping the internal combustion engine alive for as long as possible, Porsche is really pushing the hybrid 911 agenda, and here’s what this means for the next-generation 992.2 Carrera S.

Look, Porsche knows people still love the sweet, sweet sound of a roaring engine, especially with its second most popular model in the United States, the Macan. So, they’re doing the whole "we woke, also we want your money" thing by offering both electric and gas-powered Macans at the same time. While, Porsche does plan to eventually ditch gas for good in the Macan by 2026, what if you’re on a budget and want that luxury-ish, sporty-ish SUV vibe without the Porsche tax? Well, Audi’s latest Q5 and SQ5 are clinging to dino juice for the 2025 model year and could serve up as a compelling alternative to the gas-powered Macan.

Since its inception back in 1964, the Porsche 911 has been going against the status quo. For over six decades, Porsche engineers have perfected the formula of putting the engine in the rear – a highly uncommon design decision among modern-day automakers. But back when the 911 was still a young name, the company wasn’t sure the rear-engine formula would work long-term. At one point, Porsche even considered replacing the 911 with the V8-powered 928, but that never happened. Porsche’s decision to keep the rear-engine 911 around, paid off as continues to deliver truly unique driving characteristics, for which the car is still praised today.

If you’ve been following what’s happening in the world of Porsche sports cars, you probably already know that from 2025, the mid-engine 718 is going fully electric. While Porsche is doing a lot to ensure the internal combustion engine remains in service for as long as possible, the brand also has goals to electrify 60 percent of its lineup, by 2030. While this may not turn out as the company initially anticipated, the next-generation Porsche Cayman/ Boxster will feature a fully electric powertrain. The thought of a fully electric Porsche sports car is detested by many Porsche purists.

When we talk about open-top thrills in a sports car, the Boxster is, often, the first to come to mind. The mid-engine Porsche sports car first appeared in 1996 and was instrumental in pulling the German automaker out of financial trouble. Three generations later, the 718 Boxster remains a solid pick among open-top sports cars. The roadster’s balanced chassis and lightweight nature allow it to punch above its weight while offering one of the most unique driving experiences of any convertible. That said, the Porsche 718 Boxster is not the only great roadster out there. BMW’s latest iteration of the Z4 has been around since 2018, but it somehow isn’t talked about as much. One reason could be the rebirth of the Toyota Supra, which in its fifth generation is, essentially, a re-bodied Z4. After having the chance to experience both cars, we decided to see if the BMW Z4 is truly underrated and how it stacks up to the Porsche 718 Boxster.

The Porsche Cayenne is already a tech fest on wheels. The brand’s first SUV proved you can have off-road capabilities, luxury, and even performance, all in one package. Over two decades and three generations later, the Porsche Cayenne has evolved into an even sportier, more tech-heavy offering in the high-performance SUV segment. At the same time, Porsche engineers have done a bit of work on the chassis, to better distinguish the Cayenne from its siblings – like the Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Audi Q8, and Lamborghini Urus, which rely on, largely, the same hardware under the skin.

Two of the hottest hybrid sports cars right now are the all-new Lamborghini Temerario and the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, which launched back in late May. Both VW Group brands have been pushing the boundaries of performance thanks to clever electrification strategies, showcasing the best of internal combustion engines and electric powertrains. Hybrid vehicles are becoming increasingly popular over fully electric vehicles and even traditional, internal-combustion-powered vehicles, meaning we will be seeing a lot more of them in the foreseeable future. That said, Porsche and Lamborghini have very different approaches to hybrid sports cars. Lamborghini goes for big power and multiple electric motors while Porsche seems to be keeping things more down to earth with its first production 911 hybrid. That said, we know a 992.2 Turbo S is coming, and it’ll undoubtedly be quicker than the 992.2 GTS. Lamborghini’s new hybrid Temerario and Porsche’s efforts in hybrid propulsion tell us a lot about the upcoming Turbo S, and here’s what we can expect.

Porsche and Lamborghini are both under Volkswagen Group ownership and yet, what the two brands do with their sports cars has little to do with the mother company’s resources. Sure, the more mainstream models may rely heavily on VAG tech, but both sports car manufacturers do their own thing when it comes to their range-topping, high-performance models. Lamborghini recently introduced the Temerario – the company’s second hybrid model after the flagship Revuelto. Porsche also recently introduced hybrid powertrains to the 911, with the 992.2, mid-cycle refresh.

Remember the Camel Trophy? That epic off-road endurance race that pushed man and machine to their limits? Often dubbed the Olympics of 4x4s, it was a competition that was held annually between 1980 and 2000. From the impenetrable jungles of the Amazon and Sumatra to the frozen extremes of Siberia, the Camel Trophy ran through, some of the most hostile and untraversable areas on the planet. Sure, you may be used to seeing old-school Land Rover Defenders and Discoverys covered in mud from back in the day. But this rendering of a Macan Turbo electric with a Camel-Trophy theme by Blackfish Graphics caught my attention for a few reasons.