The Porsche Mission S has been unveiled as the German manufacturer’s latest study that will inform its future design direction, and from it will emerge a new series-production model on a mid-engined super sports car platform to be positioned above the 911.
“The Mission S provides a glimpse of the ideas and design features that will shape Porsche in the coming years. At the same time, the Mission S represents a mid-engined super sports car platform positioned above the 911 – not as a one-off hypercar, but as a permanent and versatile addition to our customer offering,” said Porsche chairman Michael Leiters.
The car to emerge from the Mission S will therefore be a series-production model unlike the limited-run halo models such as the 959, Carrera GT and 918 Spyder.
Drawing design elements from these models as well as the 911, the Mission S gets round headlights within the fenders, with the merging of shutlines into the DRLs which pay homage to the G-series 911; a flat front is drawn from the GT1, as is the car-in-car shape at the rear, where the roofline that merges into the rear wing recalling that of the 959.
Atop the rear decklid is a fan, which references the Porsche 917 race car with a similarly-located fan for cooling. Within the rear bumper are two pairs of stacked exhaust outlets, similar in layout to those on the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300.
While the manufacturer has yet to confirm powertrain details for the productionised Mission S, it has told Car and Driver that the production line for the upcoming mid-engined model will be able to produce pure ICE powertrains as well as hybrid and PHEV offerings.
“We have the flexibility in the platform to do full internal combustion, hybrid and also plug-in hybrid. There won’t be an EV on that platform because there is no demand in the segment for EV yet,” Leiters told Autocar.
Of these, the production car to emerge from the Mission S could first appear with a purely internal combustion engine powertrain, if clues are to be drawn from its instrument cluster.
This appears to show a fuel gauge with remaining range readout next to the speedometer, while to the right are oil pressure, as well as coolant and oil temperature gauges. Taking pride of place in the centre is the tachometer, showing a redline somewhere beyond 7,500 rpm.
The cabin of the Mission S brings renewed focus for the driving environment, where the five round instruments hark back to those of past Porsche models.
Here in the Mission S, the centrally-positioned tachometer features an analogue needle with a display located behind it, and the tachometer can move closer towards the driver depending on drive mode for enhanced focus.
Steering wheel design is mildly evolved from that of current production Porsche models, and the unit in the Mission S retains the rotary drive mode selector with its boost button in the centre. New here is the “on your own” button, which enables the driver to “turn off all supporting elements”.
The presence of shift paddles indicates the likely use of PDK dual-clutch transmission with a relatively prominent centre console-mounted gearlever, as found on other current PDK-equipped models like the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS.
Notable by absence is a built-in screen for infotainment in the Mission S, which is handled by smartphone mounting system for the driver to use their personal device as navigation support or an information display as desired. This is complemented by the My Porsche App, for added convenience in the driving-first interior concept.
Porsche chairman Leiters has told Autocar that the Mission S will use a highly flexible platform” that is based on existing Porsche technology, rather than borrowing from existing Volkswagen Group mid-engine architecture as used by Lamborghini, and Audi for the Nuvolari.
While the Mission S appears to be reasonably production-ready, Car and Driver expects that the production version of Porsche’s new mid-engined sports car, which is to be positioned above the 911, will emerge in 2029 at the soonest.
