15 Porsche Concept Cars you didn't know Existed
Have you ever wondered what it’d be like if Porsche made a Le Mans car that was road legal or an all-electric van? We certainly have … well, possibly not the latter, but we’d definitely like to see a road legal Porsche 919.
Regardless, thanks to Porsche’s brilliant new ‘Porsche Unseen’ campaign, we’ve been treated to a journey into the minds of their highly skilled designers and subsequently exposed to some new – formally top secret – concept cars. Take a look through and let us know your favourites! (We’ve kept them organised into Porsche’s own categories, to make things easier).
Hypercars
1) Porsche 919 Street
The 919 Street would have been built in pretty much the exact same way as the racing car and would have featured the same 887bhp hybrid racing drivetrain … remember, that drivetrain was used to break the all-time fastest lap record at the Nürburgring.
Whilst the thought of being able to get our hands on one of the fastest cars of all-time sounds fantastic, the idea was sadly scrapped due to the complexity of the powertrain (it takes a team of mechanics 45 minutes to start it!) and the sheer uncontrollable (in the wrong hands) speed of the thing. Sad really.
2) Porsche 917 Living Legend
Now, we may have said that these concepts were all previously ‘top secret’ but this one was actually unveiled back in 2019. This stunning looking thing was created in honour of the red-and-white Porsche 917 that took Porsche to their very first Le Mans win, back in 1970.
Created by the development team in Weissach back in 2013, only a 1:1 scale plasticine model was ever made. The model sat hidden by Porsche until 2019, when it was finally revealed to the public for the first time in celebration of the 917’s 50th anniversary.
3) Porsche 906 Living Legend
Fans of Porsche will instantly see the resemblance between this modern racing car design and the beautiful racing car that it shares its name with. The Porsche 906 Living Legend was somewhat an experiment in combining classic Porsche design with futuristic elements.
In fact, this was the first time Porsche played with the idea of integrating lights into vents, instead of putting them behind a large glass cover. You know the Porsche Taycan’s vent-light situation? You’re looking at where that design came from.
4) Porsche Vision E
This is awesome. Inspired by their entry into the 2019 Formula E championship, Porsche decided that they wanted to develop a customer racing car that was as close to the performance of their Formula E racing car as possible.
As such, they created this – a lightweight racing car, with a central seat and 800-volt technology. Sadly, the car itself never became anything more than a 1:1 hard model but the specially developed drivetrain is said to have gone on to help form the basis of the brand’s future all-electric road and racing cars.
5) Porsche Vision 918 RS
Anything with ‘Porsche’ and ‘RS’ in the same sentence is always good; the Vision 918 RS is no exception. Built in 2019, it is said to be a ‘new evolutionary stage of the Porsche 918’ that was developed by the wizards at Weissach.
Had it become an actual car, it aimed to be at home both on road and track, featuring enhanced drive and chassis technology and an aerodynamically optimised body (slightly reminiscent of the upcoming Le Mans Hypercars). We really wish this was real … maybe a 918 Spyder replacement is overdue?
6) Porsche Vision 920
Last but not least in the hypercar category is the Porsche Vision 920. Now, you’d expect anything that looks like this to be strictly restricted to professional racing. Think again. Porsche designed the Vision 920 as a super sports car for the road or possibly a racing car for customers. Only possibly a racing car?!
Wearing red-and-white (inspired by the aforementioned 917), the Vision 920 draws on Porsche’s extensive knowledge of Le Mans prototypes and is the most extreme design to leave Weissach in recent history. We can’t explain how much we want this to be real.
Spin-Offs
1) Porsche 911 Vision Safari
This is unreasonably cool. Designed by the Porsche Design Team back in 2012, this lifted 911 was created to pay homage to Porsche’s legendary off-road 911 from the 70’s. A well-deserved tribute when you consider that the air-cooled masterpiece battled over 5,000km of Kenyan wilderness back in 1978 like it was nothing.
Much like the original, the 911 Vision Safari features raised suspension, reinforced wheel housings, massive bumpers, a stripped out cockpit, racing seats and a roll cage. After seeing this, we can’t help but want Porsche to enter the WRC … who’s with us?
2) Porsche Macan Vision Safari
More Porsche safari goodness! Once again inspired by Porsche's off-road escapades, the Macan Vision Safari was designed to prove that, underneath that sleek exterior, the Macan is a proper off-roader.
To that end, the Macan Vision Safari isn’t all that different to any Macan that you’ve seen on the road - all it features is slightly lifted suspension, chunkier tyres and a slightly more rugged exterior. Once again, we’d love to see Porsche back in rallying. Wouldn’t you?
3) Porsche Boxster Bergspyder
We love this. Based on the radically lightweight (just 384kg) Porsche 909 Bergspyder hillclimb car of the 60’s, the Boxster Bergspyder is an extremely lightweight version of the Boxster with absolutely no roof and only one seat.
Weighing in at just 1,130kg and powered by the 3.8-litre engine of out the Cayman GT4, we can only imagine how fast this thing is. Unlike many in this list, some lucky people actually got to experience the sheer power of this drivable concept before it became part of the collection at the Porsche Museum. We're jealous.
4) Porsche Le Mans Living Legend
Porsche enthusiasts will undoubtedly remember the beautifully elegant Porsche 550 of the 1950’s. Well, this right here is how Porsche imagine a modern – Boxster based – spiritual successor to look. Glorious, isn’t it?
A low-slung sports car with wing doors and a clamshell boot, the Le Mans Living Legend would boast an eight-cylinder engine and vintage racing car features such as a petrol filler cap in the centre of the bonnet and racing numbers all round. Porsche say that this stunning thing is actually the predecessor to the sensational Porsche Cayman GT4.
Little Rebels
1) Porsche Vision 916
First of all, we love the category name ‘Little Rebels’. Secondly, we’re a bit in love with this little electric sports car. This compact design was inspired by two different cars: the all-electric Porsche 916 concept of the 1970’s and the first all-wheel drive Lohner-Porsche race car from 1900.
Powered by four wheel-hub electric motors and with wheels almost in the extreme corners of the compact design, we imagine this would have been an incredible sports car to drive on the road. Some might say, it would have been a ‘B-road barnstormer’.
2) Porsche Vision Spyder
With the Porsche Vision Spyder, Porsche’s Design Team wanted to hark back to James Dean and his infamous silver Porsche 550 Spyder (which featured a well-known nickname we aren’t sure Sytner IT would let us write).
Much like the original 550 Spyder and the 550-1500RS Spyder racing car that inspired it, the 1:1 hard model of the Vision Spyder featured a spartan cockpit, flat radiator grilles over the mid-mounted engine, red racing stripes and a silver body colour.
3) Porsche 904 Living Legend
This is a bit of an interesting one, as its inspiration didn’t come directly from Porsche. Instead, it actually came from Volkswagen’s limited-edition XL, of all places. Now we’ve told you that, you can probably see it?
After the XL piqued the interest of Porsche’s designers, they realised it was actually quite similar to their legendary 904. Working with both cars in mind, they eventually created this compact and efficient mid-engined sports car that would have actually got its power from a V2 motorcycle engine. Surprising, huh?
What's Next?
1) Porsche Vision Turismo
Imagine the 918, combine it with the Cayman and then add a touch of Panamera … now you have the Vision Turismo. No, really, the Porsche Vision Turismo was created because one of the designers saw a 918 schematic out of the corner of their eye and thought “hang on, does that have a rear door? That’d look amazing” (We genuinely aren’t making that up).
The result was the idea of a super sports car with four seats and then – upon the emergence of the electric mobility topic – an all-electric super sports car. That’s right, thanks to a sideward glance and this stunning model in 2016, the wheels that created the Porsche Taycan were set in motion.
2) Porsche Vision “Race Service”
This futuristic all-electric autonomous Porsche van was designed and built back in 2018, to answer the questions “what can a Porsche look like if we focus on space?” and “is such a thing even compatible with our brand?”.
The design team looked to the past for answers and created this based on the legendary VW race service vans of old. Bringing this vision into the future, however, was all-electric drive, a very spacious lounge-esque interior and an autonomous driving mode.
