The original Turbo engine of 1974, which had a power output of 260 hp and a combined fuel consumption of 20.9 litres of super petrol per 100 km, has advanced to today's engine in the 911 Carrera, which outputs 370 hp and has an NEDC fuel consumption of just 7.4 l/100 km. While having the same displacement as the original engine, the new flat six-cylinder engine's 42 per cent more power contrasts with its more than doubled fuel economy.

The development of turbocharging began as a classic story of Porsche history: in motor racing. Porsche developed the 917 Spyder for the lucrative American CanAm series, which allowed two-seat race cars with engines of all sizes and types. However, its 4.5-litre twelve-cylinder engine with its 560 hp was much less powerful than the huge-displacement engines used by the competition in the USA that produced 750 hp. Motivated by very promising preliminary studies, Porsche therefore developed forced induction of the twelve-cylinder engine by means of turbochargers. The challenge was to control the pressure build-up of the charging air to make it suitable for high dynamic load and speed changes in the racing engine. Porsche engineers took a new approach to solving this problem. Instead of conventional intake-side control, they developed exhaust-side control of the charge pressure. The bypass valve redirected undesirable overpressure around the turbocharger. From its first race start in 1972, the 917/10 with its initial 850 hp became the dominant race car in the CanAm.