Porsche Shows Off Unseen Concept Cars, From 919 Street to the Coolest Race Van

Few manufacturers have a visual identity as defined as the one at Porsche. With the iconic 911 acting as the leader, the brand has spent this century diversifying, while maintaining a consistent style. How does chief designer Michael Mauer and the team pull it off? By constantly pushing themselves in new directions with design studies that often never see the light of day. That’s changing this week however, as Porsche has cracked open the vault, sharing a smattering of these secret concepts for the first time.

Mauer, who joined Porsche in 2004, talked to a group of journalists ahead of the unveiling, including AutoGuide. Here he explained the long lead times associated with car design. For his team, by the time a production car debuts, it’s already old news, as they’ve begun putting pen to paper for the next one. The team also regularly takes on more hypothetical design briefs, like what a Porsche van could look like. The design studies shown here aren’t distractions: on the contrary, they can and do inform the designers’ work on eventual production models.

“We have in the design department a very, let’s say, intensive discussion,” explains Mauer, “and I strongly believe this keeps our design language extremely fresh, and come always up with new elements.”

You can check out our favorites of the bunch below, some of which even made it to full drivable prototype form. All of the concepts are also available in the mega gallery up top.

We already love the current 718 Spyder, but something this dramatic would be even tastier. So long as it doesn’t rain.

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