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26 Jan 2023

Seventy five years of Porsche sports cars

Porsche celebrates milestone anniversary  with a special homage to the 356

On 8 June 1948, the 356 No. 1 Roadster became the first automobile bearing the name Porsche to receive its general operating permit – signalling the birth of the sports car brand.
 
“75 years of Porsche stand for pioneering spirit, passion and dreams. We are celebrating together with people who are inspired by dreams,” says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. The celebrations kick off with the special exhibition ‘Driven by Dreams. 75 years of Porsche sports cars’, which opens on 27 January in the ‘DRIVE. Volkswagen Group Forum’ in Berlin and will run until 10 September 2023. Visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the visions and ventures of Porsche's success story and to make a record of their own dreams and values using a digital module.
 
‘Driven by Dreams’ defines the essence of the brand. Furthermore, the slogan reflects the approach with which the people behind Porsche work every day to fulfil the dreams of customers around the globe. “We are proud of our heritage. It is the foundation for a successful future. We associate our heritage with innovation and progress – and continually add extraordinary new moments to the unique Porsche story,” explains Blume.
 

 
The Porsche Vision 357 – a homage to the 356 – is a prime example of this and can be seen for the first time in Berlin. With it, the Style Porsche team brings monolithic design into the present and shows possible implementations of a future design philosophy: a striking example is the consistent enhancement of the light signature, which is both progressive and visionary in the way it points towards the future. The fundamental concept is reflective of the interplay between tradition and innovation: what might Ferry Porsche’s dream of a sports car look like today?

“With the Porsche Vision 357, we have created a very special birthday present. It underlines the importance of our design DNA based on the 356," says Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche. “The study is an attempt to coherently combine the past, present and future. The proportions are reminiscent of the historical model, while details visualise the view into the future.” Built on the platform of the 718 Cayman GT4 RS with 368 kW (500 PS), the Porsche Vision 357 represents outstanding sports car performance.



Design has been an elementary component of the Porsche legend since the very beginning. Visionary studies and concept cars form the foundation for unmistakable and innovative design. “Thinking about the future creatively is one of the core responsibilities of Style Porsche. Concept studies are the pool of ideas that feed the design of tomorrow,” says Mauer. “We are perpetually on a conceptual journey into the future of mobility. Time and again, the brand history serves as a source of inspiration. Taking a look back at our tradition with a future concept car is not as paradoxical as it might seem. Creative freedom is also important: this is where valuable ideas can emerge, ones that help us imagine our consistent design philosophy in innovative new directions.”
 
 
The functional details are integrated and underpin the sculptural character of the vehicle. This includes the concealed door openers by the side windows and the tail lights, which sit behind a patterned array of points in the body itself. Another nod to the original is the grille pattern in the rear, in which the third brake light is integrated. Like all current Porsche models, the Vision 357 features a four-point light signet in front. The round design of the headlights is also a throwback to the characteristic lights of the 356. There are also parallels in the paintwork: the two-tone concept with Ice Grey Metallic and Grivola Grey Metallic in the nether regions of the front end hearkens back to the grey tones that were already popular in the 1950s.
 

 
The “75” anniversary logo adorns the doors and the front of the design study like a start number. And that is far from the only detail from the world of racing: there’s nothing behind the lower area of the front wheels, which allows better ventilation of the wheel arches. The wrap-around, jointless front bonnet is fastened with quick-release mechanisms. Threaded rods stabilise the large front spoiler. On the side sills, the Porsche designers employed natural fibre-reinforced plastic (NFRP) – as in the Porsche Mission R, the concept study for an all-electric GT racing car presented in 2021. The basis for the sustainable materials is provided by flax fibres from agriculture. Instead of traditional exterior mirrors, the design study is equipped with cameras on the edge of the roof. The visible tailpipe trim in the rear is made of a blueish-looking titanium, while the inside of the tailpipe is made of ceramic.
 
Like the 718 Cayman GT4 RS, the Porsche Vision 357 has process air intakes positioned high behind the driver- and passenger-side windows, which designers adorned with comic-style “Air” decals. Like the “eFuel” logo on the tank cap on the right wing, the decals are reminiscent of motorsport decals. The naturally aspirated six-cylinder boxer engine theoretically draws 368 kW (500 PS) from four litres of displacement. The high-speed mid-engine would be designed for operation with e-fuels.
 

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