Behind the Scenes: Insights into the Development of Mission X

“It’s a dream,” said design chief Michael Mauer, when asked about developing the brand’s next potential supercar. “And a lot of stress.” Now he looks relaxed. The Mission X has just been unveiled under the roof of the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Just in time to celebrate the sports car brand’s 75th anniversary. Now invited guests gather around the crouching, rocket-coloured concept car. The specially developed exterior color is new: depending on the viewing angle, it changes from brown to dark. Just one of the many highlights of this stunning Porsche supercar design.

Former racing driver Mark Webber talks to the developers, Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey films the concept car with his smartphone, and Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Wolfgang Porsche nodded in agreement – ​​he also saw the Mission X live and in color for the first time today. Some designers, who have worked hard studying for a year, are visibly relieved by the hustle and bustle. The supercar looks harmoniously proportioned and detailed, as if it could go into production tomorrow.

Despite – or perhaps because of – Porsche’s claim to be able to technically execute all the concept studies, the project was a marathon at sprint speed. “We worked on the study practically until the last minute,” says Mauer. “In the end, you have an increased pulse rate and hope that everything is going well and working.”

“I’m more than just a supercar”

The decision on the project with the working title XS23 was made in mid-2022. The most important question at the beginning: What will be the right symbol for Porsche for the next 75 years? It quickly became clear that it had to be the next supercar in the line from the 959 to the Carrera GT and 918 Spyder – with a purely electric drive. The goal: to keep the proportions as compact as possible despite the latest high-performance technology. First, countless concepts and ideas from the past five years were reviewed and re-evaluated. “It was important for us to give the car a clear visual message: ‘I am more than just a supercar, my genes are in motorsport,’” says Mauer. In addition to race cars such as the 919 Hybrid, which made history at Le Mans between 2014 and 2017, use The designers also used the great 70s icons as inspiration.

The lightweight glass dome of the exterior, the front-opening Le Mans doors and the Daytona window are reminiscent of the Porsche 917. “These are all echoes of our glorious motorsport past,” says Mauer. “We are fortunate to be able to count on such a wonderful group.” Headlights show how tradition fuses with innovation to create something new. While the elements of the 4-point light signature are usually horizontal, in the Mission

The car is an uncompromising supercar. However, the interior is not modeled after the functional cockpit of a race car. You don’t have to visually prove to anyone that you can set the fastest lap on the Nürburgring, says Mauer. Instead of Alcantara, fabric was used on the interior, and leather was color-coordinated. “Our focus was on quality design and materials and the best possible integration of all elements,” says the design head. The overall harmonious composition was coordinated by colleagues from the Color and Decoration Department. The car was intentionally painted in a muted, reserved Rocketmetallic brown rather than the signal color. Color worlds often used by luxury fashion brands and express a subtle understatement. The lightweight carbon elements are colored to match, so you can only see them at second glance. “The contrast between the racing look and the elegant, luxurious features creates excitement,” says Michael Mauer. “And tension is one of our most important design principles.”

Usually Porsche

In keeping with this, the Expedition “Many modern supercars are made up almost entirely of holes,” Mauer laughs. “Mission X, on the other hand, has a relatively large number of smooth, unbroken surfaces.” The appearance is almost sculpted and smooth. Usually Porsche. Attention to detail is also exemplary. If the e-sports car is charged with the intended high-performance battery and 900-volt system architecture, it will include not only the headlights, but also the light strips, the on-off button in the internal pulse – and the “E” in the Porsche logo.

The opportunity to try out ideas, reject them and think bigger is part of the daily routine when developing a concept car – without the pressures of mass production, but with its own challenges, says Mauer: “The prototypes are made in our own workshop, almost all of their parts are custom-made – and in… “Sometimes it doesn’t fit the way it should. I don’t know how many times we tried coloring carbon parts before we were happy with the result.”

Engineers, racing technicians, aerodynamic experts and specialists from many other fields accompanied the project to ensure that the Porsche Mission “We have thus opened a window to the future. Our understanding of sustainability is such that even our studies contain enough substance to influence the future course of the brand.

A dream car that can become a reality

If the concept study gets the green light, what are the next steps? “We have to work on the aerodynamics again,” Mauer answers frankly. “In order to become the fastest road-legal car at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, the chassis of the car must be improved. Fine-tuning is done over hundreds of hours in the wind tunnel. The front of the car with the headlights “Very sophisticated aesthetically, and the interior can be executed similarly.” The Mission

A little later, on the evening of the annual show at Porscheplatz: guests already flocked to the museum, where the special exhibition was opened. Michael Mauer stands next to his desk, which slowly rotates in the light of the headlights. He calmly examines his team’s work again and tells a short story: “We designers love stickers. At some point, the idea took on a life of its own and we designed an animal sticker for each new concept car.

“There was a dinosaur stuck in a Porsche Vision 357 – as a little dig at the fact that we built a concept study using a combustion engine in the emerging age of electricity.” There was a wild boar stuck in a Mission R, but the sticker was removed at the last minute before the trade show and it is now stuck in a car My company.” Mauer points to a small, easy-to-miss sticker on the left side of the vehicle. Mission

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The text first appeared in Christopheros Magazine, Issue 408.

Author: Jan Baedeker

Photos: Christoph Bauer

Copyright: All images, videos and audio files published in this article are subject to copyright. It is prohibited to reproduce or reproduce all or parts without written permission from Dr. Ing.hc F. Porsche AG is not allowed. Please contact [email protected] for more information.