This morning, we all woke up to the rather pleasant news of a brand-new Porsche, the first entirely new model line from the German marque since the Taycan arrived in 2019. And it’s an absolute stunner.
It’s called the Mission S, and while it’s officially a “vision model” for now, Porsche has confirmed a mid-engined super sports car that sits above the 911 permanently, rather than another limited-run hypercar for the lucky few. So here’s what we know.
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Unveiling the car on a pier in Queens with the Manhattan skyline behind it, Porsche went for the same spot where the 550 Spyder was photographed in 1953 – the same images that many credit with launching Porsche’s first super sports car to the world and helping the brand win over America.
Of course, the German brand Porsche could have staged it in a white box in Stuttgart or absolutely sending it through a chicane. The return to what is now such an iconic stage for the brand suggests the start of a new era for Porsche and says plenty about where the company’s heading.
“A Porsche must be recognisable as a Porsche at first glance,” new Chairman Dr Michael Leiters said.
It’s a pointed reminder that car relaunches don’t always stick – you only have to have a quick glance at Jaguar to see that for yourself. But where Jaguar decided to double down on whatever the hell “Copy Nothing” means, rolling out a pink and blue concept in Miami, the Mission S embraces a 75-year back catalogue to create something that’s inherently Porsche, and still entirely new.
Porsche’s Head of Style Tobias Sühlmann and his team have pulled features from the archives and fitted them to the Mission S. Like the round headlights and torpedo fenders, lifted from the 911, the shut lines that melt into the light graphics from the 911 G-model, the flat nose from the GT1, and the roofline under the rear wing from the 959.
Out back, there’s also a “car-in-car” rear, where the bodywork is visually separated from the mechanical components beneath it, derived from the GT1, and wheels reworked from the 928’s famous “dial” design to reduce weight.
Inside, Porsche has also made the rather bold move to ditch the permanent centre display and the passenger screen entirely, leaving a retractable, MagSafe-compatible cradle for a phone instead.
Porsche hasn’t said a word yet about powertrains, pricing, or when we should start lining up outside the showrooms, so there’s plenty we still don’t know about the production car.
But for a brand whose recent headlines have been dominated by EV strategy rethinks and a leadership change, the bigger news is the commitment to adding a super sports car above the 911 for the first time, built on decades of motorsport know-how, and wearing a design language that will soon trickle down through the rest of the range.
It just goes to show that heritage isn’t something to be embarrassed by or erased. When it’s handled correctly, it becomes the most powerful design tool a car company has. Jaguar, listen up. This is how it’s done.