The next Porsche 911, scheduled to be launched internationally in 2018, will get a hybrid powertrain and a fully digital dashboard. The car, currently being tested at the Nürburgring facility, will use the same technology as Audi’s Virtual Cockpit.

Base models of the 911 are expected to use the same 3.0-litre, flat-six, twin-turbo engine that made its debut in the facelifted 911 Carrera.Porsche 911 product line director Erhard Mössle has revealed that the new 911 will sit on a modified version of the MMB platform used by the current car and feature only mild styling changes.

 Porsche already has hybrid powertrains in its Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan, with both cars using the same supercharged 3.0-litre petrol engine in combination with an electric motor. The 918 Spyder also features a hybrid powertrain – a 4.6-litre V8 engine with two electric motors.

 Last September, Porsche engineers told our sister publication Autocar UK that they were working on packaging a hybrid powertrain in the 911's body – something that could also account for the wider stance of development cars.

 Porsche is also considering an all-electric version of the 911 in the same vein as the Audi R8 e-tron.