The first 996s were available as a coupe or cabriolet with either rear wheel or four-wheel drive and a 3.4 litre flat-6 normally aspirated engine producing 296 bhp (224 kW). These cars had the same front end as the 1996 Porsche Boxster. Porsche Carrera owners complained loudly and long about the "lower priced car that looked just like theirs did ", hence the headlight change for the Boxster. The design for the "fried egg" headlamp could be traced all the way back to the Porsche Panamericana concept car.

Porsche introduced the 964 Turbo model in March, 1990[2] as the successor to the 930. Unfortunately, they hadn't had the necessary time to develop a turbocharged version of the 3.6 litre M64 engine, and choose to re-use the 3.3 litre engine from the 930, with several minor revisions that made the engine smoother, less prone to turbo lag and more powerful, with a total output of 320 PS (240 kW; 320 hp) @ 5750 rpm. A total of 3,660 of the 964 Turbos were built.

In 1974 Porsche introduced the first production turbocharged 911. Although called simply Porsche 911 Turbo in Europe, it was marketed as Porsche 930 (930 being its internal type number) in North America. The body shape is distinctive thanks to wide wheel-arches to accommodate the wide tires, and a large rear spoiler often known as a "whale tail" on the early cars, and "tea-tray" on the later ones.