Porsche's new head unit gives older 911s CarPlay, and a setting to avoid the motorway
Porsche Classic has extended its PCCM Plus retrofit head unit to the 997.2 and 991.1 generation 911, plus the 987.2 and 981 generation Boxster and Cayman, finally bringing wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to cars built up to 2016
Porsche Classic's PCCM Plus programme exists for one reason: cars from before the smartphone-integration era deserve a screen that talks to a modern phone without looking out of place. The latest expansion covers the 997.2 and 991.1 generation 911, along with the 987.2 and 981 generation Boxster and Cayman, closing the gap right up to the point where the following 991.2 generation already came with CarPlay and Android Auto built in as a factory option.
Which cars actually qualify
The new units fit the 997.2 911 (2009 to 2012), the same generation one German tuner once turned into a Veyron-beating hypercar, the 991.1 911 (2012 to 2016), and the corresponding 987.2 and 981 generation Boxster and Cayman, covering everything up to model year 2016. Porsche says the PCCM and PCCM Plus range fits any standard production model with a 1-DIN or 2-DIN dashboard slot within its classic service scope, with two specific exceptions: the 356 and the Carrera GT.
What the new unit actually adds
Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto work over Bluetooth and WiFi, or through a USB connection that also fast-charges a phone. Porsche has added online radio and DAB+ alongside the existing tuner, plus a video app for streaming content while parked, since playback is deliberately limited once the car is moving. Navigation now shows turn-by-turn directions in the instrument cluster itself, with a satellite view, live speed limit detection and online map updates, while the trip computer logs driving time, range, average consumption, and even oil temperature and oil pressure. Park Assist and the reversing camera carry over where a car already has them, and newer variants in the range can be operated from the multifunction steering wheel.
A navigation setting built for people in no hurry
Buried in the navigation menu is a setting that tells the system to favour winding roads over the fastest route, a small addition that says more about who Porsche expects to actually use this than any spec sheet line. It is not a feature a delivery van needs, and Porsche clearly knows it.
Nine years of working backward through the range
PCCM Plus started in 2020 with the 996 generation 911 and 986 Boxster, expanded in January 2023 to the 997.1 and 987.1 generation cars plus the first-generation Cayenne, and has now reached the 997.2, 991.1, 987.2 and 981 generations in 2026. Porsche Classic director Ulrike Lutz said of the 2023 expansion that “there is huge demand for contemporary networking of our timeless classics,” a rationale that applies just as directly here.
One half is ready, the other is not
Porsche's own product page currently treats the two new additions differently: the 991.1 and 981 unit is listed as available to explore further, while the 997.2 and 987.2 version is marked “coming soon” with no confirmed date. Porsche dealers are taking inquiries on both now, so treat the 997.2 and 987.2 timeline as genuinely open until a dealer or Porsche itself confirms otherwise.
AutoNext Take
Retrofitting modern phone integration into older sports cars without wrecking the dashboard is a genuinely difficult design problem, and Porsche Classic has now spent six years quietly working backward through its own back catalogue to solve it properly rather than rushing a universal fix. That the 991.1 and 981 cars are further along than the 997.2 and 987.2 pair is a minor asterisk, not a real complaint, given how few manufacturers bother retrofitting anything this old at all.
The winding-roads navigation preference is the detail worth remembering here. It costs Porsche nothing to include and will barely register in a press release bullet point, but it is exactly the kind of feature that only gets built by people who actually understand why someone kept a 981 Cayman this long in the first place.
