Porsche has unveiled the Mission S concept, foreshadowing a new flagship supercar equipped with a powerful internal combustion engine. A dedicated new platform will be developed for the supercar, concentrating Porsche's traditions and modern engineering expertise. Fans of the brand have long awaited such a car.
The flagship supercar slot at Porsche has been vacant since 2015, when production of the hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder with a naturally aspirated V8 at its core ended. In 2023, Porsche showed the Mission X supercar concept that looked quite production-ready, but it never became a production model because it had an electric powertrain — today, such cars generate little interest in the market. Last week, Porsche presented a new development strategy for Sportwagenschmiede '35 and in it promised the long-awaited new supercar with an internal combustion engine. The Porsche Mission S concept gives an idea of what that car will be like.
The Mission S is a prologue not to a single specific model, but to an entire family of mid-engine supercars that will occupy a place in the model range above the Porsche 911 family. A dedicated platform will be developed for these supercars, meaning the new Porsche supercar will not be a technical relative of any current or future Lamborghini supercar. This platform is designed for purely gasoline and hybrid powertrains of various types, but is not designed for electric vehicles, so petrolheads can breathe a sigh of relief.
There are no technical details about the Mission S in Porsche's press release, so for now it's not even clear what engine is hidden behind the horizontally mounted fan in the rear, reminiscent of the legendary racing Porsche 917 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970.
Porsche's new chief designer Tobias Sühlmann, who previously worked at McLaren, came up with a retrospective yet not old-fashioned look for the Mission S. The auxiliary headlights recall the G-series Porsche 911, while the overall shape of the front end recalls the mid-engine Porsche 911 GT1 from the wild 1990s. In the rear design, one can see traits of the Porsche 959 and Porsche 918 Spyder. The "telephone" wheels are inspired by those of the front-engine Porsche 928 coupe. The V-shaped stalks of the side mirrors are almost like those of the Porsche Carrera GT.
The interior of the Porsche Mission S is deliberately minimalist and traditional. There is no multimedia screen at all — it is replaced by the driver's smartphone inserted into a special mount. The instrument cluster consists of five dials with digital backdrops, but the needle on the centrally located tachometer is real, not drawn. The tachometer housing is telescopic and can move closer to the driver in certain driving modes that require maximum concentration.
Climate control is handled by classic rotating knobs to the right of the steering wheel, while on the left there is an ignition lock into which a key specially developed for the Mission S is inserted. The automatic transmission selector is a tall lever with a visible shifting mechanism at its base. The narrow center console, on which the automatic transmission selector is located, recalls the Porsche Carrera GT. The door handles are made in the form of leather straps.
Overall, the concept inspires optimism — the first online reactions to it are mostly favorable. Porsche has not yet announced when the first production supercar from the new family will appear.
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