Porsche has a long history of spectacular sports cars, race cars, and high-volume performance sedans and SUVs. It has produced just two mid-engined models that could be considered supercars, though: the Carrera GT of the mid-2000s, and the 918 Hybrid of the mid-2010s. Both were instant classics that are appreciated more by the year—and on Thursday, we'll get our first glimpse at the car expected to succeed them.
Here's what you need to know ahead of the reveal of the Porsche Mission S.
It's (probably) almost a production car
Some time on the afternoon of October 15th in the United States, Porsche is taking the cover off a mid-engined concept called the Mission S. While this concept is not necessarily a production car, Porsche rarely reveals a concept that is not. The Mission E, for instance, became the Taycan EV. While it was billed as a race car, the Mission R in fact appeared to be a thinly-veiled first look at a still-forthcoming electric successor to the 718 Cayman. Only the Mission X—an electric supercar caught up in the brand's rapidly-changing electrification plans—remains as a fully-revealed recent concept that no longer seems to be slated for production.
The Porsche Mission X concept.Porsche
At the moment, Porsche CEO Michael Leiters only says that Porsche "[intends] to use [the new mid-engined platform shown as the Mission S] as the basis for a new mid-engined car, a car that will sit clearly above the 911." Announcement of intent is not the same as an announcement, but that should mean that Porsche produces a production car that looks a lot like this concept in the near future.
It revs to 8000 rpm
A teaser revealed last week showed the gauge cluster, an impressive digital-physical combination that seems to combine an actual tachometer needle with a screen-based display. Perhaps more importantly, the same teaser showed off a redline of 8000 rpm.
That is significant for a couple of reasons. First, it means a relatively high-revving engine. That is always welcome—but more interesting is that none of Porsche's existing high-performance engines sit around that number. Both the turbocharged 911 Turbo S flat-six and naturally-aspirated 911 GT3 flat-six rev higher, while the V-8s in top models of the Panamera and Cayenne do not climb to 8000. That leaves the possibility of an entirely new engine for the product—something made far more intriguing by some publicly-known details of a previously-scrapped project.
Could it use a flat-eight engine?
While Porsche did not actually produce a flat-eight sports car in the 2010s, we know from a company employee's response to an unrelated question back in 2018 that the brand actually built a 718-based mule of one a while back. That 5.0-liter prototype apparently attached to a manual gearbox and revved to 9000 rpm, so if this is a flat-eight, the 8000-rpm redline and apparent PDK transmission shown in the dashboard teaser video suggest that this one is built to different specifications than the 750-hp unit in that experimental variant.
It has a physical key
Most Porsches sold in the past two decades have operated with keyless entry. Although many models built in the 2010s were equipped with a key-like turning starting switch on the brand's traditional left side of the steering column, no Porsche has been equipped with a physical key starter in some time. Monday's teaser for the concept, however, was a photo of a key on its own. This seems to indicate that the Mission S will have a little bit of starting procedure theater, even if it is as simple as an old-fashioned ignition switch for those proper Le Mans starts.
We still have quite a few questions
While teasers from Porsche and past development history have given us a few ideas of what the Mission S might be, major questions remain. In addition to the big ones about potential engine layouts and transmission options, we also do not know what the car will even look like. Between the Mission X EV, the 919 street car concept only revealed after Porsche canceled the project, and the XL1-based Living Legend 904 tribute, we have well over a decade of never-built, midship-proportioned Porsche designs to consider as possible inspirations for the Mission S. None tell us exactly what this car will be, though.
Porsche's 919 Street concept.Porsche
A potential hybrid system, a mainstay on most modern hypercars and many supercars, could also be in the mix. Given that the 918 Spyder had one, and that both the 919 Hybrid and 963 Le Mans racers ran with one, it seems likely that some sort of electric assistance will follow here, too. We also don't know how many seats the concept will have, although a mid-engined 2+2 would certainly be an unexpected change of pace for a brand that typically reserves that layout for the flagship 911.
All these answers should come on Thursday, when Porsche unveils what should be one of its most hotly-anticipated concept cars ever. In the meantime, all we can do is speculate.
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