Porsche's 'Unseen' Concept Cars Play on the Past and Tell the Future
Familiar models such as the 911, Boxster and Macan appear alongside reimagined Le Mans racers and more.
Earlier this month, German marque Porsche showcased a handful of concept cars in its new Porsche Unseen series and book.
Now, the Stuttgart-based automotive company has unveiled even more, this time around showcasing concepts based on models such as the 911, Boxster, Macan, and others that inspired the new Taycan.
First up is the Porsche Vision Turismo. This started life as a study into developing a rear-engined sports car with four doors, yet soon turned into a project on all-electrically driven motors. Subsequently, the Vision Turismo acts as the blueprints for the Taycan, which can be seen not just via its electric powerplant, but also through styling choices.
Elsewhere, the Porsche Unseen project offers a sub-category of “Little Rebels,” in which you’ll find the 904 Living Legend, Vision 916, and the previously-seen Vision Spyder. The 904 model is a modern interpretation of the 904 from 1963 and is Porsche’s study into developing a compact lightweight sports car for purists, featuring a carbon monocoque chassis and elements taken from Volkswagen’s VW XL. Porsche suggests that this model would weigh around 900kg and would be powered by a high-revving motorbike engine.
The Vision 916 is a pure-electric contemporary update of the 1970s’ Porsche 916 prototype, and was only made in clay for the purposes of visual experimentation. Lastly, Porsche Unseen presents its “Spin-Offs.” In this, the company offers a closer look at familiar but reworked models including the Boxster Bergspyder — a single-seater pod-like sports car that’s lightweight, mid-engined, and built for twisting Alpine roads — as well as the 911 Vision Safari, which features a raised chassis, reinforced wheel arches, massive bumpers, and a motorsport-inspired cockpit all influenced by the 1970s’ 911 Safari cars used during the East African Safari Rally.
Rounding out the “Spin-Offs” category is the Porsche Le Mans Living Legend — a Boxter-based, 1953 550 Le Mans racing coupe-inspired car — and the Macan Vision Safari, which takes the popular family 4×4 and gives it a unique update with two doors and similar design elements to those of the 911 Safari.
Take a look at the latest Porsche Unseen concept cars above, and find them all in the Porsche Unseen book which is available from the Porsche Museum and Amazon now.
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