History of the Porsche 911, part 4: the 993, a transitional "nine-eleven"

After 30 years of the Porsche 911’s history, the time had come to renew its styling

The history of the Porsche 911 is not easy. With three generations behind it, the Porsche 911 faced traditionalists against avant-gardists because, with lines practically unchanged since the birth of what was originally known as the Porsche 901, the first generation, through the Porsche 911 930 or Series G, up to the last of the Porsche 911s, the 964, they had remained almost unaltered.

In 1991 design work began on the new member of the family, the Porsche 911 993. Starting from a blank sheet, the team sketched the master lines of the new car, which had to keep the essence of the “nine-eleven” while adapting to a market, not only an automotive one, that demanded being fashionable and not standing still.

To satisfy everyone, at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, 30 years after the start of the Porsche 911’s history, the fourth generation appeared: the Porsche 911 Carrera type 993.

So as not to leave friends and strangers open-mouthed, Porsche brought forward its arrival with an advertising campaign highlighting the most novel aspects of this new new Porsche 911 where, above all, its appearance.

In 1994 the first variant arrived: the Porsche 911 Cabriolet, a version of which only 7,730 units would be assembled at a price of 142,600 marks. In autumn of the same year the Carrera 4 all-wheel-drive variant would appear.

The Porsche 911 Turbo 993 could not and did not need to be kept waiting and burst onto the scene in spring 1995. The new flagship arrived with the most powerful engine in the history of the Porsche 911 to that point, with 408 CV available, transmitted to all four wheels thanks to all-wheel drive.

Its styling, which highlighted a rear end widened by 60 mm compared with the Carrera version, featured a spoiler of dimensions only comparable to the most radical versions of earlier generations, and also incorporated environmental solutions that improved the quality of the exhaust gases released into the air.

The cascade of launches was relentless, and almost from the start everything was thrown into the fray. Thus, almost overlapping in time, the Porsche 911 Carrera RS appeared which, weighing 1,270 kg, cut 100 kg from the standard Carrera; only 1,140 examples would exist. But there was more: this RS was offered in a basic version and the Clubsport, of which only 227 units were produced.

But if we turn to extreme Porsche 911s, we approach the arrival of one of the most radical: the Porsche 911 GT2 of 1995. Claiming the title of the fastest sports car of the year, this production, carried out by Porsche’s competition department but homologated for road use, featured additional air intakes, bumpers with side spoilers and a body widened to limits never seen before.

The spoiler, very similar to that of the Carrera RS Clubsport, merely completed an aerodynamic kit that left no one indifferent. But where it could inflict the greatest fear on its rivals was mechanically: the Porsche 911 GT2 had an engine managed by an exclusive control unit that raised power to 430 CV at 5,750 rpm, delivered without concession to the rear axle. A vehicle that, in its competition version, could reach 600 CV.

From the summer of that same 1995, another of the innovations introduced on the Porsche 911 Carrera was its gear-change system with buttons on the steering wheel, which allowed gear selection through a pushbutton integrated into its spokes.

Other versions would follow, such as the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S coupé or the long-awaited Targa… which broke moulds, as the 993 itself did within the history of the Porsche 911.

At the next Frankfurt Motor Show, when the fourth generation of the 911 was presented, a new concept of convertible burst onto the scene: the new Porsche 911 Targa type 993 lost its arch over the occupants’ heads and replaced it with a glazed surface. An aesthetic revolution that pleased neither loyalists nor newcomers alike.

Based on the Porsche 911 Cabriolet, in the Porsche 911 Targa the roof was anchored to the modified bodywork of the convertible and fixed to the windscreen frame, the B-pillar and the rear shelf. The result was a sliding roof that opened and closed electrically in about 10 seconds.

Within the Porsche 993 generation, in 1996 one of the key pieces of the saga and of the history of the Porsche 911 was presented, but in this case, from the outset it was a model intended for competition, homologated in the new GT1 category: the Porsche 911 GT1, of which a road-homologated counterpart was produced for registration, known as the Porsche 911 GT1 Straßenversion, as required by FIA regulations.

In 1997, with a range expanded with variants such as the Porsche 911 Carrera S, work was already underway on replacing the 993; the next chapter in the history of the Porsche 911 had begun to be written. Its successor would be known as the Porsche 911 996, and if the history of the 993 had been complicated, that of the 996 was even more so.

But before closing this stage, Porsche’s Exclusive department would still deliver, between 1997 and 1998, 345 units of the Porsche 911 Turbo S, whose 450 CV engine once again placed it as the most powerful ever built… as powerful as that of the last Porsche 911 GT2s manufactured, which, thanks to a further tweak to its mechanics, also rose from 430 to 450 CV in this one.

Technical specifications of this car

CoupePorsche 91119 versions · from 157,835 €