Porsche Mission X concept arrives in Australia
This exotic machine promises to be the fastest car on the road, and enthusiasts haven’t been put off by the eye-watering price tag.
Aussie customers have urged Porsche to bring its Mission X concept car to life for Australian roads.
The sports car brand brought a hand-built showcar to the Australian Grand Prix last weekend to gauge interest in future models.
Electric cars are central to Porsche’s future.
The best-selling Macan SUV is about to adopt battery power.
Porsche’s cheapest two-seat sports cars – the Boxster and Cayman – are about to go electric.
And its next halo model, a successor to legendary cars such as the 959 and Carrera GT, is also about to trade petrol for voltage.
Daniel Schmollinger, chief executive for Porsche Cars Australia, said the “mind-blowing” showcar immediately attracted expressions of interest from local supporters of the brand.
“The car is stunning,” he said.
“It is a Northern Star for us, and it clearly showcases where Porsche wants to go and what Porsche is able to deliver when they put the energy into a technology and into this concept.”
Micheal Behr, technical project manager for Mission X, was on hand to give customers a closer look at a car that attracted lengthy queues across the Grand Prix weekend.
The aerodynamic coupe is full of eye-catching details, including forward-hinged doors with integrated roof panels that allow tall drivers to wear a helmet on track.
The concept’s carbon fibre seats are integrated with the car’s chassis – the steering wheel and pedals adjust to meet the driver’s limbs.
It can accommodate a broader cross-section of body sizes than most exotic cars.
A new F1-style steering wheel could make it to production, joining similar controls in the Mercedes-AMG One and Aston Martin Valkyrie. Porsche uses similar steering wheels in race cars such as the 963 Hybrid that won the Daytona 24 Hour, or the 911 GT3R that took out this year’s Bathurst 12 Hour, but has been reluctant to put them into road-going machines.
Clever touches include a network of video cameras that start recording at the press of a button, allowing owners to capture racetrack action.
The team behind the car have four technical goals.
The first is to create the fastest road-legal vehicle on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, a record currently held by the F1-powered Mercedes-AMG One and its 6m35.1s benchmark.
Porsche also hopes to sell the car with a one-to-one power to weight ratio, matching its European “PS” horsepower number to its weight in kilograms.
That would result in other-worldly thrust.
Consider for a moment that the Porsche 911 Turbo S weighs 1640kg and that its 650PS (478kW) is enough to reach 2.7 seconds, making it one of the fastest cars on the road.
A car similar in size to the Porsche 911 would be quite brisk with 1200kW of power.
Speaking of the 911, Mission X designers aim to make more downforce than the current 911 GT3 RS road racer – without adopting the track car’s enormous rear wing or uncompromising approach to practicality. There is zero cargo space in the latest GT3 RS, which has cooling gear where you might find a “frunk”, and a huge roll cage instead of back seats.
Porsche says a production version of the Mission X would deliver charging speed “roughly twice as fast as that of the Taycan Turbo S”. That car charges from 10 to 80 per cent in 33 minutes at a 150kW charging site, or a properly rapid 18 minutes at locations that can meet the maximum potential of its battery.
It won’t be cheap.
Behr is sure that it will be the most expensive Porsche yet, well in advance of the Porsche 918 Spyder that started from €781,000 ($1.3 million) plus taxes in 2013.
It’s not guaranteed to go on sale – or to be produced in right-hand-drive.
But that has not stopped Aussie customers from committing to the fastest and most expensive Porsche yet.
Originally published as Porsche Mission X concept arrives in Australia
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