Thornley Kelham’s new restomod takes a very specific moment in motor racing history and recreates it as an ultra-light, bespoke sports car. To the uninitiated, the British niche manufacturer’s Porsche 356 European SL looks like a stripped-down, hot-rodded version of Porsche’s very first sports car, as popularised by custom builders around the world.

But the European SL has a more authentic claim to fame. The car was inspired by the Porsche Type 514, the specially lightened, all-aluminium racing version of the 356 (also known as the 356 SL for Super Leicht) developed for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was Porsche’s debut race at the Circuit de la Sarthe – its first race anywhere, to be accurate – and the little ultra-light 356 went on to win its class.

Four 356 SLs were built for the race, with fared-in wheels, and specially streamlined bodywork. Thornley Kelham’s homage isn’t quite as extreme, but it is certainly a hymn to the art of aluminium bodywork. The company will also ensure its modern iteration of the coupé is constructed to cope with modern standards of performance and dynamics and everyday usability.

‘We are extremely proud to present our new Porsche 356 European SL, 75 years after the original Type 514 was waved away from Zuffenhausen by Ferry Porsche to compete in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race,’ says company founder Simon Thornley. From the handcrafted panels – made with a skill honed over years of exacting restorations – to the stripped-down, minimalist interior, this is a modern iteration of a classic Porsche form.

There are subtle upgrades to the styling, inside and out, while the panel fit and finish far exceed what was possible back in the 1950s. Under the teardrop shaped bodywork is a bespoke 2,332 cc air-cooled flat-four engine, available with either 180 bhp or 200 bhp. A five-speed gearbox (over the original’s four) with the option of passive dampers.

This all weighs in at 930kg, unless you ladle on the options. These include fitted luggage and upgrades to interior electronics and systems. ‘I wanted to deliver a car that Porsche themselves might have done were they not hindered by 1950s engineering capabilities,’ says Pim van de Riet, 356 programme director and an original 356 owner. ‘Our 356 European SL captures everything I love about the original, reimagined without compromise for the 21st century.’

The Cotswolds-based company was founded in 2008. Thornley Kelham’s other products include the Lancia Aurelia Outlaw B20GT, updated versions of the Jaguar XK and more traditional classic car restorations, across marques like Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and Bizzarrini. The company plans to make fifty examples of the Porsche 356 European SL and is taking expressions of interest now.

ThornleyKelham.com, @ThornleyKelham

Alessandro Isola Studio has completed a sumptuous storage space for a private collection of Porsches in an undisclosed Italian location. Isola, who worked with project architect Roberto Zanlucchi to deliver the project, has shaped a monumental cabinet for cars, vertically stacked across a number of levels, with views up, down and through courtesy of glass floors.

Alessandro Isola describes the project as a ‘spatial experience that alters perception’, with a series of manoeuvres that lead the visitor through the interior to a point of dramatic reveal. Sober materials and tones are paired with splashes of rich colour, either through art, furnishings, material elements or, of course, the cars themselves.

For the most part, the space is dark and restrained, with floors and walls in black resin paired with a folded black-metal staircase. The car lift – an essential part of the space – is bracketed with glass barriers, and there are also skylights and large expanses of glazed floor that allow views down on to the top of the collection.

On the uppermost level, sliding glass doors open up onto a terrace. This space, which serves as a study and sitting area, is where the car lift terminates, and adjoining the planted roof a broad skylight provides views down into the heart of the collection, past three layers of Porsches.

‘By challenging instinctive perceptions of stability and depth, the project introduces a subtle yet persistent tension, transforming movement through the space into an active and heightened spatial experience.’

The project started life as an industrial building, with a complete overhaul transforming it into the ultimate collector’s retreat and display space. The exterior is kept deliberately plain and anonymous, and the sliding metal entrance gives no clue as to what lies within. Arranged across four levels, with a basement given over to utilities and plant, the car collection begins on the ground floor.

The rest of the building is what the architect describes as a ‘hybrid environment’ – the cars are always the stars but there is scope for hospitality as well as more private spaces.

For example, a dedicated professional kitchen is part of the programme, while a custom-designed 6m-long table sits on one of the upper floors, made from brass-finished metal with a form inspired by the classic Porsche silhouette. As part of the table support, the architects have incorporated a subtle Tangerine accent, a deliberate reference to one of Porsche's more vibrant and playful vintage colours.

The main spaces are all column-free, with structure pushed to the edge of the plan to allow for uninterrupted rows of cars. ‘Like a high-performance automobile, the building conceals significant technical complexity behind a form that appears effortless, precise, and controlled,’ says Isola.

A case in point is the highly engineered car lift, designed to fit flush with the ground floor when lowered. It can also take cars all the way to the topmost floor, alongside the bar area and wine cellar. There’s also a dedicated vinyl listening space here, along with direct access to the roof terrace with its outdoor kitchen.

Throughout the project, functional design is paired with playful, almost theatrical components. For example, in the deliberately dark and mysterious guest bathroom, the focal point is the basin, carved from a massive block of white Palissandro marble and fed by a ceiling mounted spout.

‘I visited the quarry to choose the original block, which was later cut and carved specifically for this project,’ says Isola, ‘The visible texture and natural fracture preserve the memory of its origin, connecting the finished space to the raw material from which it was created.’

Ultimately, the entire space is about creating these points of intense connection, with the Porsches themselves as the undisputed stars. ‘They’re not symbols of status, but objects of passion, engineering, and memory,’ says Isola. ‘The architecture accompanies them without competing for attention.’

AlessandroIsola.com, @Alessandro_Isola

Full marks to the specification committee on this particular example of Theon Design’s restomod Porsche 911. The UK company specialises in taking Porsche’s evergreen sports car and splicing the best bits from every generation, aesthetical and mechanical, resulting in bespoke one-off creations for similarly exacting clients.

This new build, dubbed MEX001, is due to head out to South America where it will join the collection of its new owner, a Mexico-based architect. They are clearly a client of exceptional taste – the 911 is finished in a unique light-shifting colour that Theon has whipped up by combining two Porsche spec tones from the past.

By blending Nato Olive Green and Underberg , the Oxfordshire-based firm has discovered the Holy Grail of retro hues, something that feels vintage but which has a contemporary shimmer to match the many, many updates that make a Theon Design model.

As with all the company’s rebuilds, this commission involved taking a 964-era 911 back to its constituent parts and then rebuilding the chassis with new carbon fibre body panels and a rebuilt 3.8-litre flat-six engine.

The latter is uprated to 407bhp which, when combined with a weight saving of 325kg over the original, gives supercar performance in a classic car body. These qualities are exaggerated through new panels that strip away the 964’s 1980s-era looks in favour of a more pared-down form reminiscent of the very first 911s.

Another new element on this particular commission is the bespoke carbon fibre ducktail spoiler, familiar to Porsche fans as the dominant feature on the iconic 911 Carrera 2.7 RS from 1973. Classic five spoke Fuchs-style wheels, ‘Porsche’ graphics and a subtle racing stripe complete the exterior look. Semi-active suspension has also been fitted, along with a switchable exhaust system.

Inside, the specs just keep getting better. The Recaro seats pair Liquorice and Saddle Brown leather with houndstooth inserts (Pepita cloth, to be precise), with structural carbon fibre elements encircling the passenger compartment.

The dashboard is Porsche’s familiar and famed five-dial linear design, only it uses machined billet aluminium to match the new air vents, door handles and switchgear. The dials themselves are bespoke units incorporating the Theon logo.

The car takes a minimal approach to technology, with a Bluetooth-only audio system run off a smartphone, paired with a six-speaker, Focal-powered amplifier. There’s also a discreetly hidden feed to the reversing camera.

It takes around 6,000 hours for Theon’s team to create one of these unique machines, with every element of the car built to a customer’s exacting specification. With a maximum output of six cars a year, these unique Porsche restomods pair modern drivability and performance with the aesthetic greatest hits of the German manufacturer through subtle technology and impeccable craft.

A Theon Design commission starts from £430,000 excluding donor car, shipping and local taxes, TheonDesign.com, @Theon.Design

It’s clear that we’ve reached peak car confusion when a five-door, electric family SUV has the same Top Trumps stats as a new supercar launched in the same week. With a power output of 1140 bhp and a 0-62mph time of 2.5-seconds, the new electric Porsche Cayenne Turbo is a match – on paper, at least – for Aston Martin’s V8 hybrid Valhalla supercar.

But while Porsche’s new electric SUV might be further evidence that the automotive arms race has got out of hand, there’s no denying it’s a hugely impressive feat of engineering. Standing next to its ancestor on a twisting stretch of road near eastern Spain’s Sierra de la Valldan mountain range, it’s clear to see how far we’ve come in the development of performance SUVs. When the first generation of the Cayenne Turbo first rolled out in 2002, it's 4.5L Twin-Turbo V8 engine had less than half the power and a 0-62mph time that was twice that of the latest iteration.

‘The Cayenne electric is technological peak of the model line now,’ says Ben Weinberger, Porsche’s Spokesperson for Cayenne at the car’s launch in Spain. ‘It demonstrates the performance potential that electrification can unlock a project, I think, not as replacement, but as a new dimension.’

Launched late in 2025, Porsche is keen to promote the new electric Cayenne as an option, rather than a new model that will replace the existing combustion-engined Cayenne – Porsche’s second-highest-selling model behind the Macan. In the past, Porsche proudly promoted electric as the new era, but even the mighty Stuttgart sports car-maker can’t ignore the market conditions that have seen carmakers shift back to combustion.

Porsche ‘realigned’ its product strategy last year in response to ‘significant slower growth of the demand for exclusive battery-electric vehicles’ and so the combustion, hybrid and electric Cayenne will now be offered in parallel into the next decade. ‘Ultimately, it's up to the customer to decide what they want to try,’ explains Ralf Keller, Porsche’s director of its SUV product line.

So, does the electric Cayenne make enough of an impression to coax people out of the combustion-engined competitors, not least it’s fossil-fuelled sibling? Out on the smooth stretch of motorway north of Barcelona, the range-topping £131,000 Cayenne Turbo electric is a calm, comfortable and quiet place to pass the time, despite its supercar statistics. What becomes apparent as we drive further towards the off-road test track is that this car’s breadth of abilities. It can cruise quietly for a stated range of 387 miles, trundle through muddy trails or blast its way around a dusty rally stage.

Being treated to a ‘hot lap’ with Porsche’s longest-serving works driver, Timo Bernhard behind the wheel, the Cayenne Turbo makes short work of the rough off-road circuit. The family SUV we arrived in is transformed into a rally-raid racer with a simple flick of the drive mode selector into Sport Plus – and the addition of a pro racing driver. The pace and power delivery is instant and fierce.

Despite weighing in at 2.7 tonnes, the car’s ability to remain composed as it rips around a circuit at speed is astonishing. In the cabin, there’s little drama other than the physical force of the acceleration and change in direction. The ride quality is outstanding.

Much of that is to do with Porsche’s trick, self-levelling adaptive air suspension, which continuously adjusts damping for each wheel individually, drawing on vehicle speed, acceleration, steering input and ride-height data to balance comfort and performance across any terrain. On the road and track, this smooths out the vast majority of lumps and bumps, meaning the ride is comfortable and compliant.

Visually, it’s still very much a Cayenne both in silhouette and stature, but its stance is a little sportier and sharper than the existing combustion-engined model. Two optional styling packages are available: The Sport Design Package, which gives a more aggressive aesthetic with carbon, gloss-black or ‘Turbonite’ accents, and the Off-Road Package, which gives the Cayenne a more rugged look with matte black bodywork, reinforced skid plates and a reduced, lower front bumper to allow for greater clearance when off roading.

Exclusive to the Turbo model are active ‘aeroblades’, which pop out of each side of the rear bumper at speeds over 34mph, like something lifted straight from Q’s laboratory. Other than giving the Cayenne Turbo a party trick, Porsche maintains that they also help extend the car’s range by improving the air-flow characteristics.

Inside, the most noticeable change is the addition of the central Flow Display – a curved OLED screen that flows into the centre console, forming the largest continuous digital surface in any Porsche. On the road, the screen makes a lot of sense, with key controls for climate and driving functions remaining on the lower part of the screen, without interrupting the main content, such as maps. Porsche even offers a bespoke timepiece to match the spec of your electric Cayenne, with the wristband made from the car's own interior leather and a colour ring matching the exterior paint, with prices starting from £6,000.

Following in the footsteps of its smaller, better-selling sibling, the Macan, it’s no surprise to see the Cayenne shifting to electric. What is surprising is the supercar levels of power and performance from a family SUV, but the Cayenne handles it well. It's ferociously fast, more than capable of handling a rough and rutted trail, but also refined enough to cover large distances in comfort and near-silence.

While the Turbo’s athletic abilities and aeroblades might be largely theatrical, in a market bursting at the seams with new electric SUVs, Porsche understands that the Cayenne needs to rise above its rivals and continue to set the benchmark, whether it’s petrol-powered, hybrid or electric.

Porsche Cayenne Electric, from £99,900, Porsche.com, @Porsche

The Porsche 911’s role as a basis for restorations, restomods and enhanced all-rounders continues with Kalmar’s new 7-97 Turbo Edition. Destined to be made in an edition of just 11 cars (split between coupé and cabriolet models depending on customer demand), the 7-97 Turbo pays homage to the Porsche 930, the original road-going turbo-charged variant of the 911, created back in the mid 1970s to grant the model race eligibility.

The Turbo has been a mainstay of the official 911 range ever since, but the Estonian company is delving into the archives with its recreation, adding subtle and not-so-subtle enhancements to the bodywork, interior and – most importantly – the drivetrain.

Despite the decidedly 1970s-style bodywork, the base car here is the 993 generation of the 911 (produced from 1994 to 1998). All the body panels are brand new, formed from carbon fibre, with the original’s prominent rain gutters removed in order to improve aerodynamics.

Everything you see is freshly revised, right down to the famous whale-tail spoiler, while the front end retains the unmistakable 911 form yet subtly combines design components from the car’s long and short nose variants, landing somewhere around the late 1960s in style.

One area that has been comprehensively modernised is in the engine bay. Working with its technical partner, French company Lorrtech Racing Engines, Kalmar has installed a tuned 3.2-litre Mezger engine equipped with high pressure modern turbo units and other bespoke elements. Power output is around 650hp.

Deeper under the skin, the 7-97 includes adaptive suspension, four-wheel-drive and a modern traction control system yet still comes in at a featherweight (by modern standards) 1,200kg - today's 992.2 Porsche 911 Turbo S weighs in at 1,725kg.

The five-dial 911 dashboard accommodates an ‘active dial’, a screen that can be switched between engine and suspension settings, a rear-view camera and Apple CarPlay. Every 7-97 Turbo will be unique, with customers encouraged to make it their own through colour, trim and special equipment.

KalmarAutomotive.com, @KalmarAutomotive

Magic is in the air around this new creation from Singer, California’s renowned purveyor of Porsche-adjacent restomods that go far above and beyond their original specifications. Dubbed ‘Sorcerer’ by its new owner, the one-off ‘Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer’ comes complete with Fantasia Blue bodywork and a rear wing that wouldn’t look out of place on a 1970s racetrack.

Over 16 years and dozens of customer cars, Singer has burnt itself into the retinas of the old Porsche community, taking a bespoke and mind-bendingly thorough approach to rebuilding, reimagining and reshaping the 911 ethos for the supercar era. More tasteful than many of its rivals yet no less exclusive, this is the first Singer to be reimagined via the company’s relatively new DLS Turbo Services arm.

Work was carried out at Singer’s UK facility, not its better-known California shop. That allowed direct access to the country’s famed and unforgiving Millbrook Test Facility, with TÜV product certification carried out at the Nürburgring in Germany. Starting with a 964-era 911 monocoque chassis, the car is thoroughly rebuilt, with an engine reborn and remapped to produce of 700hp, stopped by new carbon ceramic brakes. New carbon fibre body panels, strongly influenced by Porsche’s 1970s-era endurance cars, and a vast rear wing complete the picture.

All this ensures the Sorcerer weaves a special kind of magic on the track, but the levels of design detail and rich materiality have certainly not been overlooked. As with all Singers, every facet of the interior and exterior was crafted to the customer’s exacting specification. In this case, the car includes Pebble Grey leather seats with Pearl Grey Alcantara seat centres and Champagne piping.

The stain carbon fibre exterior elements are also reflected by the use of the ultra-lightweight material in the lower part of the cabin. A hefty cross-brace is fitted for additional stability, while the car gets a thorough systems upgrade with new ABS brakes, traction control, and electronic stability control, all developed with Bosch, and selectable drive modes.

Although the dash follows the familiar five-dial 911 layout, each gauge is hand-built to watchmaking levels of precision. Other creature comforts like navigation and phone integration are subtly concealed. With a manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive, the Sorcerer will be an old school analogue experience for its owner.

SingerVehicleDesign.com, @SingerVehicleDesign

What do you get a design-minded young woman for her 20th birthday? Well, if you’re Assaad Raphael, the founder of Porsche Centre Lebanon, the only gift that could possibly mark the occasion is a customised Porsche – reimagined by Milan studio David/Nicolas.

Raphael is something of a car obsessive, and for the past two-plus decades has been the sole importer of Porsche in Lebanon – in addition to co-owning a garage that restores classic cars in Dubai. ‘At the time, my daughter Shaha was studying architecture and not really into cars,’ he says. ‘So I thought this would be a great way to introduce her to this world.’

He knew that simply buying a luxury vintage model would do little to pique her interest, so he approached the duo with the idea of letting her shape the project herself. She was already aware of David/Nicolas cofounders David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem – both were similarly raised in Beirut – but a chance meeting at a dinner party sealed the collaboration.

‘It was a dream project,’ recounts Raffoul, who, prior to pursuing interior architecture, had planned to study automotive design, going so far as to be accepted into a master’s programme in the UK. For Raphael, there was no doubt that their retro-futuristic style and finely calibrated sensibility would be a good fit. They had already proven themselves adept with sensitive legacy projects. At the time, they were busy reimagining Gio Ponti’s Casa di Fantasia apartment, the midcentury designer’s surrealist Gesamtkunstwerk in Milan.

In terms of the brief, Raphael let them run free. ‘It was really carte blanche,’ he says. ‘I wanted to see how designers who are not from the industry approached designing a car. It was as new for them as it was for me.’

Their canvas was a 1990 Porsche 964 Targa, a pocket-sized two-seater convertible chosen for its versatility. It has similar proportions to older models, which allowed them to echo retro silhouettes, yet the comparatively modern dashboard would enable them to add conveniences such as better air conditioning and Bluetooth audio. ‘This is one of the only Porsche models that can be backdated, yet has the technology for more modern ways of driving,’ says Moussallem.

The pair looked to classic Porsches for inspiration, particularly 911s from the past. ‘The car doesn’t have a specific age, but it now has the lines of a 1970s model,’ notes Moussallem. Because of the complicated engineering, however, there were limits to what could be changed. ‘We had to respect the existing placement of things,’ he adds. ‘The car is engineered in a way that you can’t really remove anything.’

The final palette was deliberately restrained. ‘It was a game of balancing colours, contrasts, finishes and materials,’ continues Moussallem. They chose British racing green to unify both the interior and exterior of the vehicle. The main overhaul was reserved for the interior: reconfiguring the handbrake in oiled teak; recasting the dials and gearshift in machined brass; designing the ladder-stitched diagonal embroidery on the leather seats that recalls the motifs often found on their own furniture; and refitting the central console in aluminium. More than anything, they sought a more tactile, pared-back user experience. ‘We tried to simplify the way you interact with the car,’ says Moussallem. ‘Anything we could remove, we did.’

To get to that point was an eight-year odyssey that stretched between Milan, Beirut and the UK. Raffoul and Moussallem worked with artisans in Treviso (the same team they call on for their interior projects) to fashion the interior joinery and metal details. For the leather seats, they turned to the highly specialised artisans at London-based Connolly, the fourth-generation leather tanner and currier that has been outfitting luxury automotives since the dawn of motoring itself – and the only company Raphael would trust with such an important bespoke project.

Once finished, the car was meant to be shipped back to Beirut, but ‘unhappy events in Lebanon, including the port blast and the Covid-19 pandemic, meant the car remained in Italy for four years’, recounts Raphael. ‘But finally it made it back, where we restored the body, the underbody and the suspension.’

In terms of performance, they took a purist approach. ‘I’m a keen believer that classic cars should be driven as they were meant to be,’ says Raphael. ‘What you want at the end of the day is to smell the burned oil and feel the gearbox as it was at the time.’

While the build itself was an exercise in devotion, for Raphael, the project was always driven by something larger than aesthetics or engineering. It was, ultimately, an act of passing something on. Shaha is now 29 and a successful designer in her own right, with a sensibility shaped by both her architectural training and the world she grew up in. ‘I wanted to transmit my passion to my daughter,’ he reflects. ‘And what David and Nicolas created is a work of art.’

Discover all the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2026 winners in the February issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 8 January 2025. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Of all the luxury carmakers having to undergo the shift from ICE to EV, perhaps Porsche is doing it most convincingly. As a well-established company with a solid core of familiar, globally recognised products, Porsche has had to edge its way into EV territory, building trust and credibility along the way.

It started this process with a dedicated EV, the hugely impressive Taycan, before following on with the first ICE model to be transformed into an EV, the Macan. Now it’s the turn of the model that provided Porsche with its bread and butter throughout the noughties, the Cayenne SUV. Admittedly, bets are still being hedged, as ICE and hybrid versions of both the Macan and Cayenne will continue to be available for the foreseeable future.

However, the Cayenne Electric certainly ticks the boxes marked innovation, quality and performance. Debuting with the ‘regular’ Cayenne Electric and more sporting Cayenne Turbo Electric, Porsche is throwing out stats like 2.5 seconds to 62mph and a range of 398 miles. Please note, as always, that in the world of electric cars, these two statistics are very much mutually exclusive.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some big strides being made in efficiency and convenience, not least in charging speed. The top spec model can cope with 400kW fast charging, capable of taking the new 113 kWh battery from 10 to 80 per cent in under 16 minutes. According to Porsche, a ten-minute charge at a suitable power point could provide enough energy for the regular Cayenne to travel 202 miles (196 miles in the Turbo).

Most interestingly of all, the Cayenne Electric will be the first Porsche to offer support for inductive charging at rates of up to 11kW. The new Porsche Wireless Charging system is activated by simply parking above the floor plate ‘charge pad’ for the process to start automatically.

Visually, the new Cayenne follows the cleaner aesthetic set up by the smaller Macan, with a horizontal emphasis on the lights, front and rear, more pronounced wheelarches and cleaner lines.

The most notable elements are the pronounced crease on the lower half of the doors, setting up a shadow line that blends into the rear wheel arch. Below this, a raised sill detail offsets the car’s balance, giving it a more forward-focused stance and reducing the overall bulk. The Cayenne Turbo is distinguished by the vertical air vents behind the rear wheel arches, which add to the sense of width and give the car a more sporting stance.

As well as the wireless charging system, there’s the usual long list of Porsche options, ranging from ceramic composite brakes (not strictly necessary in a car that’s said to do 97 per cent of its daily braking requirements via the electric motor regen system), to rear-axle steering, active suspension and a package of enhancements that beef up the Cayenne’s ability off-road.

Inside, the cabin is an evolution of Porsche’s class-leading interior design, with a scattering of analogue controls alongside a veritable cliff face of screens. These are mitigated slightly by the clear, sober graphic design of Porsche’s HMI, while the driver display features a prominently curved OLED screen. Also available is an AR-equipped heads-up display

Interior mood lighting has become more interactive, while there’s also a liquid crystal panoramic roof, similar to those used by Lotus and Audi. To keep HVAC energy consumption down, the heating system doesn’t just warm the seats but also armrests and door panels.

Petrolheads might grumble at the cultural appropriation of their beloved forced induction, but the new Cayenne Electric Porsche has well and truly doubled down on the use of the word 'Turbo' to denote a performance EV. The real question is whether an all-electric Cayenne can be the same kind of economic saviour as its predecessors.

Porsche Cayenne Electric, from £83,200, Cayenne Turbo Electric from £130,900, more information at Porsche.co.uk, @Porsche

Munich’s IAA Mobility Show is a different kind of motorshow, reflecting the industry’s general shift away from big-budget events that have fallen out of favour with the public. In addition to an IAA Summit for professionals and media, designed to entice big-name manufacturers alongside start-ups, commentators and industry-watchers from all aspects of mobility design, and the regular show stand arrangement, there’s also the IAA Open Space.

The last is an open event for the general public, scattered around the streets, stores and exhibition spaces in the heart of Munich and designed to put new ideas and fresh launches in front of the very people who’ll ultimately end up buying them. The bi-annual event started in 2021, grew more in 2023, and this time around, there were even more manufacturers involved, with major announcements made across the board.

Some of the concepts on show have already broken cover, including the Vauxhall Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo and the Audi Concept C, as well as a major activation by Cupra.

Read on to discover our selection of key reveals from the show.

BMW iX3

The home-ground advantage was played by all the German manufacturers. Munich is, after all, the home of BMW. To consolidate this status, BMW chose the IAA to launch its ‘Neue Klasse’ iX3, the first production version of a new design language that’s been previewed by a number of concept cars.

In the metal, this new all-electric mid-sized SUV impresses with its restraint, and the apparent about-face BMW is taking with its signature kidney grilles – once huge, now daintily proportioned. The interior pairs a central touchscreen with a slim, wide display set just beneath the windscreen. There’s more minimalism here as well, especially on the pared-back door trims. With a promised range of up to 500 miles, the iX3 will be one of the first true volume cars to do away with range anxiety altogether.

BMW.co.uk, @BMW

Volkswagen

VW also had a slew of major announcements up its sleeve, both for the main Volkswagen brand and for wider activity in the VW Group. In addition to cementing the existence of a compact ‘Electric Urban Car Family’, featuring distinct but related models from Volkswagen, Cupra, and Škoda, all priced from around €25,000, VW also doubled down on a new naming strategy.

Turns out that the ID. name plate will no longer be the only sign of a pure VW EV. As of 2026, what would have been the ID.2 will now be known as the ID.Polo, with ID.Golf to follow. The realisation that these classic model names, with their decades of history and loyal following, could simply be taken into the electric era seems like a no-brainer – the only surprise is that it took VW so long to realise.

The ID.Polo, along with its GTI sibling, were both shown at IAA – albeit still in camouflage – along with the ID.Cross concept, a compact urban SUV. Both slot into the Electric Urban Car Family announced above, alongside the Cupra Raval and Škoda’s Epiq.

VW also showed the newest version of the popular T-Roc, another compact SUV. Finally, there was the ID.Every1, a concept with the task of bringing VW back into the ultra-compact urban car category like classic older models such as the Lupo and the Up!.

Volkswagen.de, @Volkswagen

Porsche 911 Turbo S

Porsche presented its new flagship 911, the 911 Turbo S. A legendary name, this latest version of the evergreen sports car goes heavy on the tech. Power output is at record levels (711 PS), thanks in part to a T-Hybrid powertrain that incorporates two electric exhaust gas turbochargers. There’s also all-wheel drive and an EV-bothering 0-62mph sprint time of 2.5 seconds.

Like all 911s, the new Turbo S is designed to be easy to live with, combining that massive power with a spacious cabin, great sightlines and a colossal breadth of dynamic ability, from everyday use about town to the challenge of the track.

Porsche.com, @Porsche

Mercedes-Benz GLC

Another big reveal came from Mercedes, which countered BMW’s iX3 with the new version of its equivalent model, the GLC. The all-electric Mercedes-Benz GLC with EQ Technology (the car’s official name) also demonstrates a company rowing back from the idea of separate lines of ICE and EV cars. The first GLC was introduced back in 2015 and a decade has truly transformed the model.

Instead of its rather lumpy forebears, the newest GLC is relatively slim in profile for an SUV, with neat rear-light treatment. The big grille rather lets the ensemble down – no lessons learned from BMW’s vogue for shrinking front-end graphics. Inside, Mercedes is still wedded to vast displays with the latest iteration of the dash-devouring MBUX Hyperscreen.

The car’s operating system uses a so-called multi-agent approach, taking the best bits of AI from both Google and Microsoft. As a result, Mercedes claims that ‘for the customer, talking to the MBUX Virtual Assistant is like chatting with a friend – it can provide detailed responses and answer follow-up questions without the need to repeat context’.

Mercedes-Benz.de, @MercedesBenz

Avatr Vision Xpectra concept

There were also plenty of Chinese brands represented, marked a fresh wave of new metal intended to increase the country’s Western market share. New models from Leapmotor, Deepal, GAC and Dongfeng included the GS7 SUV, with its quirky animated headlights, the Aion UT, as well as the arrival of Dongfeng’s new Forthing sub-brand in Europe and the Huawei-owned Aito brand, which showed three new crossover models.

Our attention was grabbed by Avatr’s dramatic Vision Xpectra, a vast new concept created by this sub-brand from Changan Automobile to express what it calls ‘emotive luxury’.

As well as the sheer scale of the 5m-plus limousine, with its near fully-glazed upper body, there’s a wealth of technology crammed into the interior, much of which is controlled via a VPA (Virtual Personal Assistant), the latest must-have for modern cars. Shown alongside production models, including the Avatr 06, 07, 11 and 12, the Xpectra is a bold statement of intent.

Vision.Avatr.com

Polestar 5

Polestar finally revealed the production version of the long-awaited Polestar 5 at Munich. As the EV company gets closer and closer to completing its projected line-up, the arrival of the 5 marks the most premium Polestar yet, with the Performance model starting at £104,900 for the Launch Edition.

Based on the original 2020 Precept Concept, the Polestar 5 is described by the company as a ‘performance grand tourer’. The dual motor model should be good for around 400 miles of range, whilst the rapid Polestar 5 Performance is rated at 351 miles. At 5m in length, the Polestar 5 is limousine-sized, with rear space and accoutrements to match.

Polestar.com, @Polestarcars

Mini John Cooper Works concepts

Mini created a large-scale installation in the heart of Munich, complete with faux Tube station entrances and lots of lovely British clichés. When it came to cars, the BMW offshoot chose to present a collaboration with the lifestyle brand Deus Ex Machina, which resulted in two one-off John Cooper Works cars, dubbed The Machina and The Skeg.

Drawing influences from drag racing and surf culture, the two concepts are full-blooded race cars and have inspired a capsule collection from the brand. Asymmetric styling cues and liveries are coupled with spoilers and slick tyres, with one car celebrating EV power and the other traditional ICE.

Mini.de, Deuscustoms.eu

Renault Clio

The Clio is an important car for Renault, even though most of the company’s recent attention has focused on the 4 and the 5. The Clio was a mainstay for many years, and now the compact car is back, this time with a hybrid powertrain. The sixth generation of this popular small car is actually larger than ever before and shares several interior elements with the 4 and 5 models.

There’s little evidence of retro design here, however, with a more aggressive front-end styling. Despite the hybrid power, it’s still a light car by modern standards, and should be impressively economical as a result.

Renault.de, @Renault_de

Škoda Vision O

We see hints of the 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Nomad in Škoda’s brave Vision O estate car concept. At a time when the practical, elegant estate has been all but decimated by the SUV, the brand’s decision to double down and reinvigorate the segment is a welcome one.

Look beyond those very conceptual doors and you’ll see a finely proportioned wagon that combines Škoda’s playful but practical approach with a new design language, ‘Modern Solid’. The dashboard gets the two-screen set-up also seen in BMW’s iX3, with the upper level dubbed the ‘Škoda Horizon Display’, while there’s also a softer, more natural approach to interior materials and aesthetics, as well as ‘Bio-Adaptive Lighting’ that uses natural light cycles to keep occupants feeling fresh and alert.

As well as 650 litres of luggage capacity, the Vision O also debuts new ‘Simply Clever’ features, the little design add-ons that have come to define Škoda’s attention to detail. The signature door-stowed umbrella is present and correct (no fewer than four of them), and the car incorporates a fridge as well as a detachable Bluetooth speaker.

Also on display was the new Škoda Epiq, a conceptual preview of the company’s contribution to VW’s quartet of compact all-electric city cars. Like its siblings, the Epiq will hit the streets in 2026, largely unchanged from the car you see here.

With a low price, above average range for the sector (c.260 miles) and a spacious, functional interior, the Epiq will be the first production car to incorporate the Modern Solid design language and shows the brand hasn’t forgotten its functional, affordable roots.

Skoda-Auto.com, @Skodagram

Hyundai Concept Three

This is the Concept Three, a preview of the next and smallest car to bear Hyundai’s Ioniq sub-brand EV badge. Expected to reach production as the Ioniq 3, if you overlook the tinted windows, lemon-yellow interior and purple highlights, you’ll see the fundamental silhouette of the next-gen compact car.

The Three actually brought to mind the 2007 Hyundai HND-3 concept, which in turn reached production as the quirky and asymmetric Veloster in 2011. Both cars had an unusual door arrangement, something that’s carried through to this concept, with its coach rear door.

The concept demonstrates what Hyundai is calling its ‘Art of Steel’ design language, doubling down on the industrial conglomerate’s impressive ability with the material, along with the Parametric Pixel detailing seen across the rest of the Ioniq range. All European EVs were on display at IAA Mobility 2025, as well as the Insteroid concept first shown at Seoul in the Spring.

Hyundai.com, @Hyundai

Yes, it’s yet another Porsche restomod. However, Hungarian specialist KAMManufaktur eschews the evergreen and near ubiquitous Porsche 911 in favour of the lesser-known 912. The company’s new KAMM 911T follows the more performance-focused 911C. In this case, ‘T’ stands for Touring, and the car has been reshaped, re-engineered and tuned for a more refined, relaxing cruise.

Miklós Kázmér’s Budapest-based company decided upon this unique approach due to the 912’s simplicity and lightweight. Produced only between 1965 and 1969, all 912’s had a four-cylinder engine and arguably better balance than the more powerful, tail-heavy 911. Kázmér’s team includes experts from Porsche Motorsport, Singer and Koenigsegg, and the aim of the game is to preserve the analogue feel of the original, rather than infuse the car with too many updates.

However, despite the purity of the 912T’s looks, one of KAMManufaktur’s principal changes is to swap out steel body panels for carbon. The rest of the car is restored, with subtly upgraded chassis, brakes, suspension, wheels and tyres, and brand-new factory parts (courtesy of the Porsche Classic service).

The updated yet still original engine puts out 163hp. Coupled with weight savings of around 100kg over an original car, it makes the 912T a spirited performer, albeit with gearing that’s a little more relaxed than the 912C. Inside, updates include handcrafted seats by Italian specialist Fusina Racing, with Smiths instruments on the dash and the ability to upgrade the audio system and add smartphone charging.

According to Kázmér, the 912T is more ‘comfort-oriented’. ‘Our team of designers and engineers relished this chance,’ he says. ‘In the 912T, we have crafted a timeless sports tourer that exudes style and sophistication, without compromising the purity of the drive.’

KAMM 912T, from €245,000 (excluding donor car), for more information visit KAMManufaktur.com, @KAMManufaktur_

The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed transcended its origins as a niche meeting of besotted, wealthy petrolheads many years ago. These days, it’s nothing more than a full on, open-air motor show, a petrol-powered Glastonbury set in the grassy slopes of the South Downs.

With many key manufacturers sliding their marketing budgets out of the auto show circuit and over into interactive events like this, the Sussex-based bash has become a high point for car launches and debuts, especially machines making their dynamic debut on the hill climb circuit that winds through the event (it’s actually the drive of the 11th Duke of Richmond’s family estate).

Although it’s a chance for some to showboat, a quick time up the famous hill is a fast becoming a badge of honour, a deadly serious contest of split second timings with coveted status at stake (witness Aston's DBX S confidently outgunning the time Bentley set with its new Bentayga Speed, for example).

Alongside displays of priceless classics of road and track you’ll find lavish corporate hospitality, as well as temporary pavilions of every shape and size, built to promote the latest models and newly emerging brands. This year saw Jaguar give its divisive Type 00 concept a rare (static) public outing, as well as major pavilions from the likes of Bentley, Lotus and Aston Martin.

Here are our six favourite sporting autos from Goodwood 2025.

1. Hyundai IONIQ 6N

Hyundai chose Goodwood to unveil the IONIQ 6 N, the high performance variant of its excellent IONIQ 6 electric sedan. The streamlined EV makes a hugely convincing sports car, but the jury’s still out on whether Hyundai’s quirky combo of paddle ‘shifts’ and piped in ‘engine’ noise is anything more than a gimmick. It is entertaining, regardless, but the fact that established performance cars haven’t gone down the same road with their EVs leaves Hyundai’s approach looking rather left-field.

Hyundai-N.com

2. Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe Reimagined by Singer

Californian builder Singer Vehicle Design is a Good regular, showcasing their bespoke takes on classic Porsches to an appreciate audience. Every Singer is a custom order and in recent years the company is becoming more adventurous, conjuring up re-imaginings of classic 911 models that transcend the style and capabilities of the original many times over.

This year saw two examples of the Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, a 1980s-inspired wide-body sports car that has engineering by Cosworth, carbon fibre bodywork and even pop-up driving lights mounted in the front bonnet. Just 100 examples will be made.

SingerVehicleDesign.com

3. Lanzante 95-59

The Lanzante 95-59 made its global debut at Goodwood. A reskinned and revitalised McLaren 750S, the 95-59 arrives 30 years after McLaren won the Le Mans 24 Hours, in a McLaren F1 that had been race-prepped by Lanzante itself. The 95-59 moniker is explained by the restriction of 59 bespoke units of the ‘new’ car, with projected prices starting at £1.02m each. One radical change from the 750S is the creation of a three-seater cabin in homage to the original F1.

Lanzante.com

4. Maserati MCPURA

The new Maserati MCPURA is a surprise update of the marque’s amazing mid-engined MC20. One of our favourite contemporary supercars, the MC20 never got the love it deserved, so Maserati is clearly hoping that a substantial facelift will bring the car to a new generation of customers.

Available in both coupé and Cielo convertible configurations, powered by the original 630-hp V6 Nettuno engine, the MCPURA is still one of the most dramatic cars on the market. It’s worth remembering, however, that an electrified version of the MC20 was recently scrapped. Perhaps some of the unique distinguishing elements of this lost Folgore model made it to the MCPURA?

Maserati.com

5. Zenvo Aurora

Earlier this year we spoke to Zenvo’s Jens Sverdrup about the forthcoming Aurora hypercar. Goodwood marked the Aurora’s ‘dynamic debut’, although as you can see from these images, the final production form has yet to be revealed. Zenvo promises big numbers from Aurora, and the on-schedule arrival of the first prototype, complete with its revolutionary Mjølner V12 engine bodes well for the future.

ZenvoAutomotive.com

6. Alpine A290 Rallye

Finally, a more down-to-earth debut for fans of EV performance. The compact Alpine A290 Rallye is the sporting sibling of the award-winning Renault 5 E-Tech. Modified still further from the production model, the Rallye features motorsport-inspired upgrades, hinting at a future flagship version of this compact electric powerhouse.

Alpine-Cars.co.uk

Porsche makes waves in the surfboard design stakes, partnering with California-based Almond Surfboards on a limited-edition collection of retro-inspired apparel and a custom-made surfboard.

The classic Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 inspired the collection, evoking laid-back California charm. The 6ft swallowtail surfboard will come in three distinct colourways, ‘Grand Prix White’ with a choice of blue, red, or green detailing. With only 72 boards made, the limited edition nods to the historic sports car’s year of introduction, 1972.

Porsche and Almond Surfboards’ limited-edition collection

It's the second iteration of Porsche's collaboration with Almond Surfboards, titled ‘Single Fins & Air-Cooled Engines’, which debuted in 2024. The inaugural collection focused on the mid-1960s for inspiration, a formative era in surfing that coincided with the launch of the distinctive Porsche 911, in 1963.

‘We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Almond Surfboards, this time [honouring] one of the most celebrated 911 models of all time,’ said Karsten von Engeln, president and CEO at Porsche Design of America. ‘Together with the team at Almond, we’ve created a distinctive, high-performance surfboard that will appeal not only to surfing enthusiasts and Porsche fans, but also to design aficionados. It looks just as good in the water as it does on the roof of a Porsche, or on the wall in your home.’

Handmade in California, the board is crafted in polyurethane foam with basswood stringers. It is finished with a fibreglass shell with two layers of 6oz cloth on the deck and one layer on the bottom. Its fuller outline and narrow tail are designed for functionality to match its aesthetic appeal.

The limited-edition surfboard is crafted with a white base, and customers can then choose their preferred colour. Details include Carrera lettering, the Porsche crest and the Almond Surfboards logo, along with a ‘72’ racing number. On the underside of the board is the Porsche logo, and a single fin in the chosen colourway – recalling the coloured Fuchsfelge wheels on the 911 Carrera RS 2.7.

‘For this new collection, we chose to shape a 6ft winged swallowtail design that draws inspiration from both the iconic 911 Carrera RS 2.7, renowned for its powerful performance and unique silhouette, and the surfboard designs of the early 1970s – the same era that this 1972 Porsche celebrates – with their blend of classic lines and cutting-edge performance,' said Dave Allee, founder of Almond Surfboards.

Along with the board, the collection features T-shirts, caps, a sweatshirt, a beach towel, boardshorts, a canvas tote, and handmade surf flags. Also included is a sticker set, a woven patch, a model car and a California Surf Guide.

Headquartered in Germany, Porsche has a longstanding connection with Southern California. When it first introduced the 911 RS 2.7, its clean design and ducktail spoiler gathered fans and became synonymous with surfing, with the image of a surfboard pitched on the roof still a recognised symbol of a retro beach lifestyle. The brand’s Heritage Design strategy, meanwhile, has seen it keen to evoke its icons from decades past, with special editions such as the recent Porsche 911 Spirit 70.

The Porsche x Almond surfboard retails for $3,000, with apparel priced from $45-$155. porsche.com, almondsurfboards.com

Fancy an all-electric surfboard? We tried the Lind Canvas in the Stockholm archipelago

In partnership with Porsche

Venice’s public transport system – ancient, predominantly aquatic, reliant on the gondola since the 11th century and last revolutionised by the city’s first steam-powered, mechanically propelled vaporetto (water bus) back in 1881 – is having a rare radical rethink.

Gateway to Venice’s Waterway is an urban mobility collaboration between the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche and the star of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale; architects from the foundation and designers from the German sports car manufacturer worked together on a construction that represents a visionary transportation hub for a Venice of the future.

Inspired by the network of 435 foot bridges that span the city’s 150 canals and connect its 121 islands, the project is a 37m-long, physical manifestation of the intersection between design and architecture and the latest iteration of Porsche’s The Art of Dreams initiative.

Resembling a 21st-century interpretation of a vaporetto dock, the installation’s sinuous aluminium space-frame/lattice-tube construction references classic Porsche race cars such as the 908. The kinetic surface, meanwhile, is inspired by the cube pattern of the new Porsche Macan Electric. Throughout construction, recycled materials and environmentally friendly systems have been used.

A practical, fully working and operational endeavour, the hub functions as a gateway to e-mobility on both land and water. Emission-free water bicycles by California’s Schiller Bikes and Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air sports boats equipped with the all-electric drive of the Porsche Macan provided alternative transport for attendees during the biennale’s opening week (10 May). Other alternative ideas for urban transportation developed by students from Style Porsche and Studio FA Porsche Zell am See are also on display.

With ‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective’ as the theme of this year's biennale, the Norman Foster Foundation and Porsche envisage their collaborative work as a response to transport challenges facing the Italian port city, a catalyst for a discourse on sustainable, urban change and a physical exercise in design reconciling the complex demands of modern urban infrastructure.

‘Design and architecture share the same attributes,’ says Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche. ‘Both disciplines stand for an interplay of aesthetics and technology as well as functionality and realisability. The exchange with creative colleagues beyond the boundaries of classic automotive design is always enriching for us. Creativity thrives on communication and freely conceived ideas.’

Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation believe that through the integration of technology, insights from nature and lessons from the past, cities can be reimagined as more sustainable, connected and efficient, a holistic approach bringing together experts from different fields to shape the future of mobility.

‘Gateway to Venice's Waterway is a testament to this vision,’ says Norman Foster. ‘It shows how innovation and tradition can co-exist to inspire new solutions for the urban landscapes of tomorrow.’

Gateway to Venice’s Waterway can be visited throughout the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs until 23 November.

porsche.com/stories

Forty years ago, at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show, Porsche unveiled a remarkable road car. The Porsche 959 began life as a purist racing car, an evolution of the evergreen 911 tailored to compete on one of the most vivid, popular and gruelling motorsport series of the age, Group B rallying.

The prototype rally car made its debut in 1983 and presented a remarkable break with tradition. Clad in aluminium and Kevlar body panels, with hollow magnesium wheels, adjustable ride height and a specially developed all-wheel drive system. By the time the 959 was ready to race, Group B was no more, cancelled by the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) due to the dangers posed by massively overpowered cars and free-roaming spectators across long rally stages. In the 1986 season, three drivers and three spectators were killed and many more injured.

Porsche pivoted. Not only would it rejig the 959 for one of the longest and most arduous endurance races of all time, the Paris-Dakar, it would also transform it into a refined and exceptionally powerful road car. Over the next three years, Porsche built 292 road-going versions of the 959, some pitched for daily use (‘Komfort’) and others with a boosted power output, ‘Sport’. A short run of eight more cars was added in 1993.

The 959 truly was a ‘Wundercar’, the title of this new exhibition from London-based creative studio INK. Featuring the work of the studio alongside artists Benedict Radcliffe and Chris Labrooy, photographer Benedict Redgrove, and CGI artists Colorsponge (Carlos Pecino), and Wooden Gun, ‘Wundercar’ celebrates all aspects of the 959, with elements of sculpture, photography, digital and interactive art.

INK’s ability and agility with automotive imagery is in full effect. The show is dominated by Redgrove’s imagery of a triumvirate of historic 959s, the original development mule, with its bashed-about body panels, a battle-worn 959 Dakar in the iconic Rothmans livery, and the prototype road car.

The 959 was a Wundercar in every sense; in 1986, 959s came first, second and sixth in the Paris-Dakar. The sport version of the road car could accelerate to 60mph in as little as 3.4 seconds, an unprecedented figure for the pre-EV age. The road car is now a hugely sought-after classic, one of the first ever ‘hypercars’. Prices regularly exceed $2m at auction and its legacy can be seen in the current Porsche 911 Dakar.

INK doesn’t just do automotive work, but it’s the field that allows the London studio to get the most creative. Recent studio works include the monograph Automotive Type D and the ‘Plain Body’ series of automotive reimaginings. In addition, the company has worked with Polestar, Aston Martin Formula One, Hermès, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, and even Nasa.

Wundercar runs 22-25 May 2025 at 41 Quaker Street, London, E1, Wundercar.INK, WeareINK.co.uk, @weareINK

Porsche pushes hard on its spiritual connection to the 70s and 80s with a new strictly limited 911 convertible. The third of four different collector’s cars the company is creating, the Porsche 911 Spirit 70 have been enhanced by Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, the company’s bespoke division. Showcasing the extent to which the standard 911 can be adapted with special trim, decals and materials, the Spirit 70 is part of Porsche’s ongoing Heritage Design strategy and just 1,500 examples will be available worldwide.

Based on the current 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet, the Spirit 70 follows the 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition, which drew inspiration from the 1950s and 1960s and was released in an edition of 992 examples in 2020. Two years later, the series continued with the 911 Sport Classic, 1,250 examples of a car inspired by the original generation 911 (1964 to 1973) and the legendary 911 Carrera RS 2.7 of 1972.

The new edition features chunky supergraphics and a newly developed colour, Olive Neo green, alongside Bronzite orange, solid Black or GT Silver Metallic. These four colours are complemented by an interior finished in the company’s iconic ‘Pasha’ pattern, an Op Art-style check that was inspired by the ripple of the chequered flag and which has graced the seat trim of cars from the 911 through to the 928. The nature of the pattern requires precise placement in each area of trim.

Pasha pattern is everywhere, from the centre panels of the seats to the door panels and even inside the glove box (‘Upholstered glove compartment interiors and upgraded luggage compartments are a bit crazy, just like back then,’ says Design Style Porsche’s Volker Müller, head of Colour & Trim). There’s even Pasha trim on the dashboard, paired with Basalt Black Club Leather and decorative stitching. All in all, it gives the Spirit 70 a rather lairy but no doubt period-correct golf club image. The decals on the bonnet and doors are entirely optional, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the design team behind the edition used the word ‘Psychedelic’ as a working project title.

Porsche has used the opportunity of the special edition to add historical design elements to the dashboard, with white pointers and scale markings on the digital dials treated like original analogue models. The Sport Chrono stopwatch on the dash also gets this treatment, and the level of detail extends to the creation of a new chronograph from Porsche Design, shown here. For this 911 Spirit 70 chronograph, all the visual cues are present and correct, from the Pasha pattern on the dial to the green and white markings.

Finally, Porsche has announced a new app for the Apple Vision Pro, an enhanced configurator that provides complete immersion in the specification of the car and the design and atmosphere of the 1970s.

Porsche 911 Spirit 70, from £187,700.00, Porsche.com

Porsche Design 911 Spirit 70 chronograph, £12,000, Shop.Porsche.com

Sometimes a legacy is cemented by the presence of a talented artist or photographer. Rainer W. Schlegelmilch is one such chronicler, a photographer who has spent many years following international motorsport. In Taschen’s new re-edition of Schlegelmilch’s study of Porsche’s racing history, the heroic collides with the scale and scope of motor racing’s golden era.

The new edition follows a limited run of 762 aluminium-bound copies issued in 2023. Containing Schlegelmilch’s coverage of Porsche’s ‘racing moments’ between 1963 and 1988, it charts a quarter of a century of design and technical evolution, all captured with a dynamic eye that sought out vivid coloured and the pattern, process and complexity of the racing around the world.

The photographer’s passion for Porsches of every stripe shine through, from the evergreen 911 through to the 917 and 962 sports cars that became legendary for their prowess throughout the 70s and 80s. There’s also a strong sense of the camaraderie of the racing community, from the mechanics to the fans, back in the era when crowds could line the very edge of racetracks.

The book contains imagery from some of the most significant and historic races and circuits, from the Targa Florio through to Le Mans and Monza. Notably, Schlegelmilch’s camerawork deployed new techniques to convey the sense of speed and dynamics, including the combination of a zoom with a long exposure, and the use of blurred movement to convey speed.

Taschen.com

When it comes to making cars, there are few roles more important than the one responsible for penning the shapes and silhouettes that come to define a brand. Within the rarefied world of car design, sitting at the top of the tree of storied sportscar maker Porsche is arguably the top job – something Michael Mauer has done for more than 20 years now as the company’s vice president of style.

From his role as the chief custodian of one of the most iconic sportscar shapes in the world to bringing bold new cars like the Panamera, the hybrid Porsche 918 and the all-electric Taycan to market, Mauer’s time at Porsche has been eventful to say the least. Reflecting on two decades of Porsche design, Mauer is modest about his past achievements but still as passionate about the future of the German carmaker as he was on the first day of the job.

Two decades design at Porsche: Michael Mauer interview

‘In order to keep a design language fresh, you need to give the design department the opportunity to think really without limitations about the future,’ Mauer says, speaking in Porsche’s design studio in Weissach, Germany. ‘You need to create a vision and then go back from that vision and look into which of these elements can be realised already today or maybe tomorrow.’

When Mauer joined Porsche in 2004, the sportscar maker was in a very different place to where it is now. Still in recovery after being on the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s, the carmaker was in the midst of bedding in a bold new product strategy. First came the Boxster in 1996 – arguably the car that brought Porsche back from the brink – which was followed by the Cayenne SUV in 2002 and the Carrera GT supercar in 2003, which all sat alongside the omnipresent 911.

Launching an ‘entry-level’ convertible, a segment-shaping SUV and an era-defining supercar all within the space of six years was a punchy move for the carmaker but the risk paid off and by 2004, Porsche sales were once again on the rise. While the move had stabilised the company, it had simultaneously created a headache for the design department, which was now juggling the crown jewels – the 911 – alongside new models in entirely new segments.

But that didn’t deter Mauer. ‘I had learned the strict process chains of industrial firms at Mercedes-Benz, Saab and GM, and with that knowledge in hand I began to reorganise the design unit at Porsche,’ he explains. ‘Instead of assigning lead designers for individual model lines, I divided the work process into exterior and interior design, colour and trim units and put the most competent designers with right mindset for the respective specialisation in those positions.’

At the same time, and almost as soon as he walked through the door, he was handed the task of taking Porsche even further into unchartered territory – this time with a four-door saloon. ‘For me, the first generation Panamera was one of the greatest challenges. I just joined the company and I had to gain their acceptance,’ he explains. ‘This was a new segment for Porsche. Let's say, the aspiration was for a new kind of new car – not a classical sedan – a real sports car in the segment, but with all the requirements of a sedan regarding the space.’

What emerged in 2009 was a four-door saloon car that looked like a longer and heavier 911 – something Mauer freely admits could have been better. ‘Even though the car was very successful and still has its own characteristics, you could see I was still very young in the company,’ he admits, referring to his inability to convince the executive board on certain aspects of the car. ‘I would say, with my reputation today, that the first generation of the Panamera would have looked much more like the second generation.’

Shortly after Mauer and his team had successfully delivered the Panamera, another ambitious assignment landed on his desk, only this time, it was for a hybrid-engined hypercar. ‘Whenever I see the 918 Spyder, it still looks modern. It's kind of ageless,’ he admits.

Both in its design and its V8 plug-in hybrid engineering, the 918 showed the world what was possible when it was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2013, when electric and petrol came together to power something as striking as two-seater, open cockpit hypercar. While the £700,000, limited-edition Porsche was a special engineering and design exercise, it paved the way for one of Mauer’s greatest achievements – Porsche’s first all-electric mass market car in 2019, the Taycan.

‘I always had the target that [the Taycan] becomes a little bit in the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) world, what the 911 is in the combustion world,’ says Mauer. ‘The first car from Porsche without the combustion engine had to be really a Porsche, but it should also show and visualise this kind of new generation for the company.’

With design cues inspired by the hybrid 918, the performance to outrun a 911 and the same level of practicality of the Panamera, the Taycan was a groundbreaking car for Porsche and the auto industry as a whole. It reset the benchmark for what a sporting, all-electric saloon should be but most importantly for Mauer, it still needed to look like a Porsche.

While the Taycan was responsible for defining a new all-electric era for Porsche, it was still a conventional sports saloon, albeit with futuristic touches and new underpinnings. Despite the speed at which electric technology has advanced in the past 20 years, Mauer feels the switch to batteries and the architecture around them is still a way off granting designers complete freedom.

‘In the car industry, with this transformation, we are replacing one technology with the other. So, the engine block is replaced by a big battery pack,’ he explains. ‘But we are not yet there in terms of having much more freedom as designers. There are very exciting times ahead of us, and my successor will have the opportunity to explore new proportions more radically because of the new technology, but I don't see this really in the next two or three or five years.’

As it stands, combustion engines remain a staple of the Porsche line-up but change is on the cards. This year saw the arrival of the first hybrid-engined 911 and an all-electric Macan – another of Mauer’s ‘children’ – ahead of the electric Cayenne arriving in 2025. But the switch to battery power isn’t the only major change impacting Mauer’s design studio.

Until relatively recently, the prospect of artificial intelligence playing a role in car design was a fantasy, but with the rapid rise in generative AI, the technology is finding its way into creative outlets, including Mauer’s studio. With the ability to speed up much the design process, AI can render a sketch or create a model in minutes – a process that used to be measured in weeks when Mauer first entered the industry – but he’s not afraid that transport design will disappear as a job entirely.

‘AI is using sources, or is based on things that already exist, and then recombining these so new things can pop up, so for me, they always still a lack a surprising element,’ he reasons. ‘I can see that some of the designers are very good at feeding into the system, to create very fast a base from which they can go on further but it’s this human aspect – the element of surprise and intuition – that is missing. The human factor is and always will be a selling point and quality marker, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence.’

After 20 years in the job, you’d think Mauer might be a bit bored of Porsche. Having broken new ground – several times over – alongside subtly updating and safeguarding three generations of 911, he’s accomplished with one manufacturer what most designers could only dream of across a whole career.

While he admits it’s a common misconception that the design department at Porsche is ‘a pretty boring place,’ with teams creating ‘another version of the 911 that looks like the predecessor’, Mauer’s two decades with the manufacturer have been anything but dull. ‘To work in the design department at Porsche in Weiss is one of the most exciting places you can be. It's a dream job. You can design products that you want to drive yourself,’ he says with a smile.

Porsche.com, @Porsche

Mai Ikuzawa concedes that white denim is perhaps not the best thing to wear when oil, grease and racing fuel are all around. But she didn’t want her capsule clothing collection – launched together with the American artist Daniel Arsham at Goodwood Revival earlier in 2024 and now online – to be the usual motoring merchandise, which tends to mean lots of baseball caps.

‘I wanted something properly high-end, especially since Japanese-made products are still recognised for their craft and quality,’ she says. ‘It was bad enough with all the mud [at the UK motoring event this year], with me freaking out about my brand-new Nikes.’

Ikuzawa comes from prime motoring stock – she is the daughter of Tetsu Ikuzawa, the Japanese former racing driver and racing team manager, the first Japanese driver to compete in European championships (key years being from the late 1960s through to the 1980s), and a man appreciated for both his personal style and the bold red graphics, crane logo and typography he designed as his racing colours.

It’s those – filtered through Arsham’s lens – that grace the likes of trunk bags, stadium and varsity jackets and long-sleeve T-shirts in the streetwear-oriented Team Ikuzawa collection, which Mai Ikuzawa and Arsham unveiled alongside a Porsche 904 GTS in bespoke livery, one set to make appearances at various motoring events during 2025, including The Ice at St Moritz in February.

‘Other teams said they’d never seen anything like it [when my father unveiled the designs],’ says Mai Ikuzawa, who is now slowly reviving the Team Ikuzawa archive – notably its documentary photography, racing overalls and a number of vintage Porsches – and operates a brand consultancy. This, Bow Wow International, specialises in advising automotive companies such as Rolls-Royce, BMW, Aston Martin and the Venturi Grand Prix Team on their lifestyle strategies

‘[With Team Ikuzawa] there was a combination of fashion and art that back then which was very rare in motorsports,’ she adds. ‘Obviously I don’t think I would have been so into style or cars without his influence. I’d be given a lot of toy cars, go motor crossing. It was the kind of brainwashing I now put my own children through. But [years later] there’s still an aesthetic side to car culture that is under-explored.’

Ikuzawa, who also released a limited edition watch in collaboration with Tag Heuer last year and is now working on a second capsule collection, argues that the motorsports world has yet to successfully bridge the gap with luxury lifestyle: ‘Some partnerships feel a little forced, as though the two worlds don’t yet understand each other yet,’ the trained stunt driver argues. Perhaps rectifying this, she suggests, could also be a way for the industry to embrace growing interest in cars among women.

‘It’s quite disappointing to me to see how women are still excluded from the car world. Go to a [luxury] car dealership and you’ll experience a tremendous amount of sexism – the assumption that you must be someone’s girlfriend,’ says Ikuzawa, who also considers herself a champion for Japan’s ‘overlooked’ car culture (‘Ask people to name cool cars and, unfairly, not many people will cite the likes of Nissan,’ she notes).

‘Maybe it’s because a car is such an ego-driven product for many men. But there needs to be more women in motorsport and car culture generally. And one way in is less emphasis on engine parts and more on the style and the sense of adventure that cars embody. There’s a softer way for car culture to be presented, and that’s what I’d like to pursue.’

Team Ikuzawa, @TeamIkuzawa

BowWowInternational.com

DanielArsham.com, @DanielArsham

Photography by Tom Shaxson

In a modest industrial structure set amidst fields on the outskirts of the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Deddington, with no visible signage and even less indication of what’s inside, you’ll find one of the UK’s most high-end sports car manufacturers. This is the HQ of Theon Design, a small family business that has made its name through intensive and elaborate restorations of the classic 964 era Porsche 911.

We travelled to Theon’s workshop to experience the company’s most recent build, GBR002, the second revitalised example of 1992 964 C2 built for the British market. Started by Adam Hawley and Lucinda Argy in 2016, Theon has tapped into the effervescent market for high-end, classic-shaped Porsches. This rich seam is being mined all over the world, whether it’s companies like Singer in the US or other specialists who can transform an ancient Porsche into a sporting EV.

Theon is old school in its appreciation of the magic of the iconic air-cooled 911, but very much bang up to date when it comes to craft, tech and presentation. Hawley, who was working in car design, explains how he saw a gap in the market when he wanted a restored Porsche of his own. ‘I had a car built and it was a bit of a nightmare,’ he says, ‘to do it well, it’s bloody hard.’ Combining his design skills with Argy’s marketing and business skills, the duo set out to do it themselves. ‘I don’t like the term ‘restomod’,’ he says, ‘but it does describe the process – it’s about taking the best parts of every Porsche.’

Theon starts with the 964-era 911 as a base car. Nearly 64,000 examples of this version were made between 1989 and 1994, and it was the penultimate 911 to use an air-cooled engine (the 993 generation that followed marked the end of this particular era). Visually, the 964 marked the final evolution of the original 911 shape, originally introduced in 1964. As well as being plentiful and relatively affordable, the 964 was exceptionally well engineered, providing a solid grounding for enhancement and upgrading.

‘We enhance rather than reinvent,’ Hawley confirms, ‘it’s about taking the best of Porsche’s past. Our USP is to try and do everything in the way that Porsche would have down.’ That means focusing on the detail, working hand in hand with skilled suppliers and knowledgeable customers, most of whom are longstanding aficionados of the brand. ‘It’s not just a colour and trim exercise,’ he stresses, ‘each car has its own personality.’ Someone might want a true autobahn stormer, with very high-speed stability, while another customer might want to focus on handling and dynamics. Either the customer supplies the donor car or Theon helps source it.

Every Theon Porsche is a full re-build from the ground up. The engine can be upgraded with a supercharger, for example, a new exhaust system has been developed, and enhancements include a new tub for the Targa model to improve its stiffness. ‘We don’t just want a car to look nice, it’s drivability is very, very important,’ Hawley says. Given that this is a beloved 30-year-old model, its foibles and weak points are well known. ‘We’re constantly looking at the cars and working out how to make things better,’ says Argy. ‘I know these cars inside-out, so I can see where the problems are,’ Hawley adds.

Examining an ongoing build up on the car lift in the workshop reveals the attention to detail and the scope of the work that goes into every car. You can have new rear seats loosely based on those found in the Porsche 928, for example, while the front Recaro seats are also reworked and reconditioned. A new wiring loom simplifies the 80s-era electronics, mirrors come from the 991 generation Speedster model, and every Theon gets elegantly flared wheelarches in the manner of the original 911 Turbo, capably blending 70s and 80s influences.

As well as engine upgrades and relatively straightforward options like incorporating reversing cameras and racing harnesses, Theon looks to save weight wherever possible – you can delete the rear seats altogether, for example. Other improvements include a new air-conditioning system and fuel tank, and the choice of in-car entertainment is pretty much up to you.

The end result is up to 300kg lighter than the original. Coupled with a boosted engine, wider track, new dampers, a lower riding height than the most extreme original 964, the 911 RS, and carbon ceramic brakes, and each Theon is a more than capable performer. ‘I think if you can deliver a car that’s been built to the very best standards it can possibly be, it will never go out of fashion,’ Hawley says. To date, 15 cars have been delivered, with another 9 currently in build. The process takes 18 months. As well as being patient, Hawley notes that ‘our clients are very supportive – we don’t have a demonstrator car, for example.’

That means the car Wallpaper* gets to drive belongs to a trusting customer. Behind the wheel, you marvel at the 964’s compact dimensions and great sightlines when compared to a modern sports car – even the contemporary 911, which has grown and grown over the years.

There’s a visceral and very direct feeling of engagement when you push on, with acceleration you need to work for and steering that is weighty but precise. The thick tyres and thin carbon fibre bodywork give a fair bit of road noise, but Hawley’s commitment to making what was already great even better is ably demonstrated. This particular car puts out over 400 horsepower yet weighs just 1,169 kg. A six-speed manual gearbox ramps up the engagement, as does the switchable dampers, which give the car a broad range of abilities across all road conditions.

With a body finished in Oak Green Metallic and an interior that upgrades all the original Porsche switchgear with bespoke billeted aluminium pieces, plus newly trimmed leather seats and Bluetooth enabled Focal stereo, six new speakers and a wireless phone charge pad, this second UK-based car epitomises the Theon Design approach.

A Theon 964 will take around 6,000 hours of work, effort that is reflected in the pricing: coupe models start at around £380,000, with Targa top models at £415,000, plus taxes. You’ll also need to provide a donor car. The company knows it’s a niche within a niche, subtly scattering its branding around the body and cabin, Theon’s ‘new’ cars don’t necessarily attract any casual attention. Owners, however, know their stuff and while these cars could never be described as subtle, they have a quietly classic presence that belies the power and precision under the skin.

For more information, visit TheonDesign.com, @Theon.Design

Car camping has never quite had the same aura of adventure as other forms of getting out and about and eschewing conventional beds. Once seen as more of a necessity than a novelty, it’s now becoming a readily available option for urban dwellers who want a short, sharp and simple way of camping away from home without completely retreating into nature.

Hyundai is clearly thinking along similar lines. The South Korean car maker recently flagged up the national pastime of ‘Chabak’ (alternatively Cha-bak, or Cha bak, the name coming from the Korean word for a night in a car), and how it’s making inroads into European markets, particularly the UK. It was a shorthand way of saying that Hyundai has a number of suitable vehicles for the pastime, starting with its new plug-in hybrid variant of the Santa Fe SUV.

Aside from marketing-driven surveys, we dug into what else is new in the world of car camping, and how roof-top tents and extensions – as well as ultra-practical transformable interiors – are offering fresh alternatives to the conventional camper van or travel trailer for short stays off the beaten track.

Car camping in comfort: perfectly pitched solutions

Hyundai Santa Fe

Hyundai is suggesting that amenity-loving adventurers are better off with a more Chabak-inspired approach. This minimises set-up and maximises flexibility, presumably allowing you to make the most of your warm, well-upholstered and -equipped automobile on your escapes into nature, with the option to break camp in an instant and head for home (or a hotel).

The Sante Fe is particularly well suited to this featherweight approach, with a seven-seater interior, and a tailgate area that can be treated as a ‘terrace-like living space’. Add a roof-tent, and you’re good to go. According to Eduardo Ramírez, chief designer at Hyundai Design Centre Europe, ‘the inspiration for the Santa Fe was to create a vehicle that's not just transport but a gateway to adventure – a private retreat on wheels that combines home comforts with the great outdoors’.

Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-in Hybrid, from £51,885, Hyundai.com
You can also explore the concept of Chabak at Hyundai.com

Porsche Canopy Tent

Porsche already offers a bespoke roof tent that’ll fit not just its SUV models but also the 911. Now the company has launched its new Canopy Tent, a more enveloping and spacious experience that’s designed to add additional floor area to your stopover point. Designed by Studio FA Porsche in Zell am See, the Canopy Tent is a square, freestanding structure that dovetails with the sober (and very Porsche) black and grey colour scheme of the roof tent.

Inside, there’s a total floor area of 5.2 sq m (around 57 sq ft), with an inflatable structure giving solidity. As well as a standalone pavilion with fully openable side windows, the Canopy Tent comes with a vehicle-connecting tunnel which’ll connect the tent directly to the tailgate of your Porsche (ruling out the 911, because this of course doesn’t have a tailgate). Privacy screens and insect meshes allow for all sorts of practical combinations.

Porsche Canopy Tent, coming soon, Porsche Roof Tent, €5,552, Shop.Porsche.com

Good Vibes from Camp Werk

The award-winning Good Vibes roof tent from Camp Werk is an ultra-weather-resistant two-person sleeping capsule designed to fasten securely atop a small SUV. With space enough to sleep two, the roof tent comes with gas dampers to automatically raise it up once the clamps are undone. A comfortable 20cm-thick mattress is supplied (measuring 133 x 200cm) and there’s also space aplenty to keep bedding and bags within the hard shell, even when it’s closed. A removeable ladder is supplied for easier access and the opening process takes a matter of seconds, while zippable sides can be paired with rain canopies for through-ventilation regardless of the weather.

Good Vibes, available from Camp Werk, CampWerk.com

Vista XL from Hapro

The Vista XL is a folding roof tent from the Netherlands. While the Good Vibes opens vertically, making it exceptionally self-contained, the Vista XL expands out from the footprint of your car roof to create a larger space from a smaller original footprint. The XL includes an integrated ladder with large opening windows, canvas walls and a sizeable mattress, alongside travel storage for bedding and more.

Vista XL, available from Hapro, VDLHapro.com

Nissan Caravan MyRoom

While it isn’t exactly a tent, nor is it explicitly pitched at campers, we have to admire the Japanese-market-only Nissan Caravan MyRoom’s attention to interior detail. The Caravan is a mid-sized minivan, usually aimed at large families or small companies who need to cart plenty of people around.

In MyRoom trim, it becomes an office or retreat on wheels, with a Muji-esque interior with blonde wood benches and a table, alongside wood trim, wooden window blinds and shelves and storage aplenty. The bench turns into a bed and Nissan offers a special battery (recycled from its Leaf EV) to act as a power supply when you’re on the road.

Nissan Caravan Myroom, information at Nissan.co.jp

The appetite for bespoke supercars shows no sign of abating – at least, that’s the hope of new start-up Marc Philipp Gemballa and its debut machine, the Marsien. The company’s founder has a name that’ll be familiar to supercar spotters; his father, Uwe Gemballa, founded a business creating bespoke, highly customised and elaborate Porsche-based designs in the heights of 1980s excess. Gemballa Sr’s company continues to this day, despite his murder in South Africa in 2010.

With that out of the way, it’s important to note that Marc Philipp Gemballa GmbH has no affiliation or connection to Gemballa GmbH whatsoever, and we suspect that is how they’d want it to remain. Nevertheless, Gemballa Jr is following his late father’s footsteps with an automobile that is undeniably Porsche adjacent.

The Marsien has been shaped by French designer Alan Derosier and draws inspiration from Porsche’s iconic 959 supercar of the late 1980s. The 959 began life as a Group B rally car before evolving into a fearsomely capable – and ultra-high-tech – road car. Although Group B rallying was effectively cancelled before the 959 got to compete, the car won the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally, giving Porsche a credible toehold in ultra-high-performance off-roading that it has clung to ever since.

The Marsien continues this tradition, promising abilities on road and off. According to the company, ‘countless test drives on the Nordschleife, in the Arabian desert, as well as on the glaciers of Sölden and Scandinavia have been carried out’, an exotic test schedule that hints at at least one of the Marsien’s likely markets.

The new car is also up against competition from Porsche itself, which has only relatively recently diverted its off-road know-how away from SUVs and back towards its sports car line-up. The Porsche 911 Dakar is well on its way to being a cult classic, barely 18 months after launch, even though just 2,500 units are being made.

Marc Philipp Gemballa GmbH has ensured the Marsien is way more exclusive. Only 40 are being built and so far customers in 16 countries have signed up for ownership. That’ll entail taking delivery of a fearsome, fully carbon-fibre machine, with a shape that makes more than a passing nod to Porsche’s old and new (and which will doubtless confuse the unfamiliar) but ticks all the boxes for the supercar collector.

Underneath all this is a Porsche 992 Turbo S base vehicle – the current model of 911 – with an engine upgraded by engineering specialists RUF to make over 750 horsepower. Other specialist components include the lighting and exhaust system.

That name, Marsien, is derived from the French ‘Martien’, or Martian, a nod to the otherworldly landscape of the Al-Faya desert in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE, where some of the testing was undertaken.

To cope with these alien landscapes, the Marsien has a specialist rally-derived suspension set-up with custom components and a hydraulic lift system that can give a ride height of up to 250mm. There’s also an automatic tyre pressure system, with specially designed aluminium wheels and Michelin tyres for road use and Grabber AT 3 All Terrain tyres for hitting the rough.

This particular car, the launch vehicle, has a navy blue Alcantara interior and contrast ice blue stitching to tone with the Glacier Blue exterior. Naturally, customisation options are limitless, whether it’s the exterior paintwork, interior materials and colour or any other special touches the customer desires.

Marsien, by Marc Philipp Gemballa GmbH, for more information visit MarcPhilippGemballa.com, @MarcPhilippGemballa

When Porsche pulled the covers off its Mission E concept at the Frankfurt motor show back in 2015, it marked a turning point for the Stuttgart-based marque. Getting ahead of the competition, Porsche gave the public a glimpse of its battery-powered future and followed up with the Taycan in 2019, ahead of electrifying the best-selling Macan earlier this year. With hybrid versions of the Cayenne and Panamera already on sale long before, just one aspect of the Porsche range remained untouched by electrification – its storied sports cars, most notably its flagship 911.

For more than six decades the Porsche 911 has been the benchmark by which all other sports cars are measured and now, the time has come for the icon to benefit from battery power. While the refreshed, entry-level Carrera model still swerves away any form of electrification, it's the new GTS that gets the full 'T-Hybrid' treatment.

‘It's a really big step because that's the first time we have the hybridisation in a 911,’ says Frank Moser, Vice-President for the 718 and 911 models, in Málaga, Spain, where the car was launched. ‘It shows that the model is reinventing itself once more.’

While the 911's unchanging, teardrop shape might suggest the model has resisted ‘reinvention’ for more than half a century, Moser explains the sizeable shifts in the 911's engineering within that time. ‘Fifty years ago, the first 911 with a turbocharger arrived – that was outstanding for us,’ Moser continues. ‘Then, in 1984, we brought four-wheel drive to the car and after that, we switched from air-cooled to water-cooled engines in 1998, which was a huge change.’

While the 911 name passes another milestone with the introduction of electrification, in practice, the new GTS' charged-up underpinnings are discreet. While it's far from capable of all-electric driving, its redesigned 3.6-litre, six-cylinder boxer engine is boosted by a small, high-voltage battery located in the front. That 400 V traction battery powers an electric turbocharger (eTurbo) and an electric motor in the transmission, which can produce an additional 150Nm of torque.

All that combined, means the new GTS is capable of clawing its way to 62mph from standing in just three seconds and on to a top speed of just under 200mph. On the track, the difference between the hybrid GTS and pure-combustion Carrera is stark. The electrically assisted GTS is noticeably faster, largely down to having 534 bhp – 146 bhp more than its sibling. To illustrate the performance jump, Porsche took the new GTS coupe around the infamous German Nordschleife race track, where it shaved nearly nine seconds off the previous generation model’s time.

When driving on the road, the entry-level Carrera is still hugely capable thanks to its optimised 3.0-litre, six-cylinder engine but its softer ride means it hits the spot for everyday driving. Available as both a coupé and a cabriolet, both 911 Carrera variants come as rear-wheel drive only. There’s a price premium for the hybrid GTS, which comes as either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and as a coupé, cabriolet and an all-wheel drive Targa, which caps the range at nearly £150k.

Regarding the exterior and interior, there are only a handful of subtle changes to tell the two new 911s apart from the current crop. The most noticeable change is found at the front of the new GTS, which sports vertical air intakes that open up to channel air into places that need cooling, or close to make the car more aerodynamic. On the inside, it's out with the analogue tachometer that proudly sat front and centre of the dashboard and in with a curved, 12.6-inch screen, which displays all the dials and more.

Sitting to the side of that, is a new nondescript push button starter that replaces the unorthodox twist to start 'key' fob for a that used to sit in the same place. While the marque has invested heavily in the car’s new underpinnings, it's taken a particularly light-touch approach to the styling and interior changes, and for good reason – the 911 is still one of the most practical, pretty and best-functioning sports cars on the market.

With deliveries due between autumn and the end of the year, the refreshed 911 – or 992.2, to those in the know – is a marked improvement on the current Carrera, particularly in GTS guise, with its innovative embrace of electrification. With Porsche's commitment to battery power still high on its agenda, the engineering seen on the new GTS is more than likely to spread and strengthen the rest of the 911 range in time.

While the marque is keen to point out the additional technology does reduce emissions, it’s not exactly a sustainability play for Porsche, rather a particularly effective performance enhancer. As far as the 911 nameplate is concerned, one of the oldest and best-selling benchmarks for sports cars just got even better.

Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, from £132,600, Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS, from £149,100

Porsche.com, @Porsche

Bentley has debuted its new Continental GT Speed, the latest iteration of grand tourer flagship, now billed as being the ‘most powerful Bentley ever created’. That extra whack comes from the integration of the company’s new Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain, taking the total power output on this fourth generation model to 782 PS.

The hybrid system has been co-developed with the engineering might of parent company Volkswagen, which has already deployed this high performance hybrid system in the latest Porsche Panamera e-hybrid. In the Continental GT Speed, it offers a vast breadth of ability, from 50 miles of pure electric range to a top speed of 208 mph.

This is the fourth generation of the car that transformed Bentley from an inhabitant of a luxury backwater into one of the world’s preeminent brands. Arriving in 2002, the GT was the first fruit of new ownership and new investment. Instantly successful, it was overhauled in 2010 and the substantially updated and upgraded in 2018 on an all-new platform.

This fourth generation car showcases a clear stylistic crossover with the strictly limited-edition Bentley Batur, particularly in the new headlights, which eschew the double lamp set-up that has been part of the Conti GT’s face since its inception.

On-board technology goes beyond the hybrid system and will include four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, active anti-roll control and a new damping system. In the past, this emphasis on tech has given the big Bentley coupé a formidable dynamic capability that belies its size.

Inside and out, the focus on bespoke finishes, colours and materials will continue much as before. Bentley has made great strides in the discovery and refinement of more sustainably sourced materials, from driftwood to textured surfaces, and you can expect the fourth generation GT to deliver even more on this front. The company has chosen to unveil both GT and GTC convertible at the same time, with the latter set to be one of the swiftest four-seater convertibles ever made.

We’ll be delivering a full drive report on both variants of the new Continental GT in due course.

Bentley Continental GT Speed, price tbc, BentleyMotors.com, @BentleyMotors

The focus here is on both hybrids and EVs, despite the latter getting something of a rough ride in an increasingly partisan media landscape. Although it’s true that hybrid drive still makes the most sense for high mileage users, it’s worrying that some carmakers have seized on political hesitancy over electric vehicles with undisguised glee. That said, there are still plenty of new and upgraded EVs to get excited about, and even a few companies dipping a toe in hybridisation and electrification for the first time. Here’s our selection of what to watch for in the months ahead.

Audi Q6 e-tron

Audi still favours EVs that are at the larger end of the scale, and the new Q6 e-tron and performance-focused SQ6 e-tron models are no exception. Notable because they sit on the company’s new Premium Platform Electric (PPE) – which it shares with Porsche – the new Q6 has a longer range and much more intensive ‘digital experience’ for drivers and passengers.

Maximum range is billed as 381 miles, with the SQ6 model offering a 4.3 second 0-62 mph time (although physics dictates that these two stats cannot co-exist). Inside, the cockpit reads as a ‘Digital Stage’, helped by the addition of a new passenger screen and a curved driver display screen. There’s also an optional Augmented Reality Head-Up Display and Bang & Olufsen sound system. 

Audi Q6 e-tron quattro, available to order from €74,700, Audi  SQ6 e-tron, from €93,800, Audi.com

Porsche Panamera e-hybrid

Porsche is having a very busy year. Alongside this revision and the updated Taycan, there’s also the new all-electric Macan and the promise of the first ever hybrid 911 model to come. The Panamera range has now been joined by new 4 E-Hybrid and 4S E-Hybrid variants.

These pair petrol engines with an updated plug-in hybrid system, with an all-electric range of nearly 60 miles and the ability to charge the battery using the engine (an option sorely missing from many other PHEVs). A spacious, comfortable interior make this one of the great contemporary GT cars. 

Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid and Panamera 4S E-Hybrid, available to order, Porsche.com

Porsche Taycan Mk2

Porsche has given its first fully-fledged EV a mid-life makeover, adding more range and refinement to all models, including the Taycan Sport Turismo and the Taycan 4 Cross Turismo. Upgrades include new headlights and revised front and rear styling, more advanced efficiency measures, adaptive air suspension across every model and even more performance.

All this is overshadowed by an impressive range increase of up to 35%, giving the longest-legged model a range of 421 miles, and making an already excellent car even better. 

Porsche Taycan, available to order, Porsche.com

Lamborghini Urus SE 

The newly announced Lamborghini Urus SE is the first hybrid version of the brand’s SUV. Following on from the hybrid-powered Revuelto (dubbed an HPEV - High Performance Electrified Vehicle – by the company), the Urus SE lays claim to a massive 80% reduction in emissions.

That’s not too hard to believe, given how the ferocity and volume of the standard V8-powered model gave the impression of necking fuel even when it was at a standstill. Nevertheless, the addition of an electric motor hasn’t dimmed the Urus’s power or performance, but there’s now the welcome option of a silent EV driving mode that won’t wake the neighbours. 

Lamborghini Urus SE, available soon, Lamborghini.com

Citroën C4 X Hybrid

Alongside the Citroën ë-C4 X EV, you’ll now find the new C4 and C4 X Hybrid 136. This isn’t as retrograde a step as it first appears, for the ë-C4 X disappointed with its middling range. As conventional, non-plug-in hybrids, the new models combine a 1.2-litre PureTech petrol engine with a battery, reducing overall emissions and allowing for all-electric driving when the occasion demands. 

Citroën C4 X Hybrid 136, from €33,900, Citroën.fr

Cupra Born VZ

The new Cupra Born VZ is the sporting variant of the Spanish manufacturer’s excellent compact EV. Designed in line with Cupra’s intention of becoming the sporty, emotional flipside of its sister brand SEAT, the VZ is mildly tweaked for better acceleration and top speed, as well as a revised handling package. There are also sports seats, larger wheels and a new range of exterior colours.

Cupra Born VZ, more details at CupraOfficial.com

Mini Aceman

Mini’s product range is growing with the introduction of the new Mini Aceman, an all-electric crossover that is bigger than the evergreen Mini Cooper but somewhat smaller than the Countryman model.

The styling is chunkier than the former, especially the wheelarches, although elsewhere it follows the company’s new pared-back design language inside and out. The cheaper E model is joined by the longer-range SE (with a still rather meagre 54.2 kWh battery), which should be good for 252 miles. 

MINI Aceman, from £31,800, Mini.co.uk

Ineos Fusilier

The Ineos Fusilier is the all-electric variant of the eccentric but durable Ineos Grenadier, the car that scraped up the last remaining DNA of Land Rover’s original Defender and turned into a cult but costly 4x4. Starting from the same utility-inspired automotive design, the Fusilier actually sits on its own EV platform and is a bit shorter and lower than its petrol- or diesel-powered sibling. 

With a choice of a pure EV or a range extender model (with a small petrol engine that only functions as a generator for the batteries), the Fusilier will make a striking alternative to the status quo. However, it'll have to go head-to-head with Mercedes’ newly launched electric G-Wagon, the G580.  

Ineos Fusilier, register for more interest at IneosGrenadier.com

Škoda Epiq

Finally, a preview of a car coming early in 2025. Škoda describes its forthcoming Epiq as ’a battery-electric city SUV crossover,’ all part of parent company Volkswagen’s ongoing quest to create a compact, desirable and profitable c€25,000 EV. The Epiq is clad in Škoda’s Modern Solid design language, measures just over 4m long and should have a range of around 250 miles.

Note that in the electric era, a ’people’s car’ can no longer be a compact hatchback, but instead an ’urban’ SUV – such are the tricky economics of making small cars profitable. 

Škoda Epiq, more details at Skoda-Auto.com

In partnership with Honor

Honor’s newest smartphone embodies the company’s forward-thinking approach to premium technology, a synthesis of dynamic software design and fresh thinking about how high-end design should look and feel. Working hand in hand with Porsche Design, the new PORSCHE DESIGN HONOR Magic V2 RSR takes Honor’s class-leading thin folding screen technology and gives it a sophisticated appearance evolved from Porsche’s acclaimed sports cars. 

‘We’re always looking for equal partners that are a perfect fit, with shared customers,’ says Carsten Monnerjan, head of Design at Porsche Lifestyle Group, a subsidiary of the car manufacturer Porsche and the company behind the brand Porsche Design. Monnerjan leads a creative team at Studio FA Porsche in Zell am See, Austria, founded by and named after the creator of the Porsche 911. In recent years, the design studio has strengthened its collaborative work between its offices in Zell am See, Berlin, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Ludwigsburg in Germany. There’s also a close synergy with the design studio led by the director of Style Porsche, Michael Mauer. 

For Honor, the partnership could not be more fitting. Yuan, chief designer at Honor, explains how the company is committed to openness and collaboration. ‘I think Honor and Porsche Design share the same vision to offer a range of high-end and innovative products that set industry benchmarks,’ he says. ‘We couldn’t find a better partner than Porsche Design – we’re both unafraid to rip up the rule book to chart our own path for new and exciting products.’ 

As an exclusive design and lifestyle brand, Porsche Design is committed to bringing the unique Porsche spirit and values to life. While Honor has established itself as a key player in the smartphone industry with human-centric innovations. This partnership is another best practice for Honor, as a global and premium brand, to bring collective innovations to consumers around the world.

‘A phone is in the hands of our customers,’ says Monnerjan. ‘They’re choosing it to be part of their user journey every day, something they use all the time. It’s a product that must never let you down, and be joyful to use.’ Monnerjan draws an analogy with Porsche’s luxury sports cars and SUVs. ‘They are products that make you proud to own them,’ he says, ‘and we are both pushing to find the latest technologies, materials and user interfaces to ensure this is the case.’ 

Honor’s journey to the premium end of the smartphone market has been a rapid one. Weighing only 234g and measuring 9.9mm in thickness when folded, the PORSCHE DESIGN HONOR Magic V2 RSR pushes the boundaries of innovation for foldable devices. The device harnesses distinct sports car DNA, with a uniquely shaped camera lens enclosure that references the visual language of Porsche. This is translated into the physical feel of the device, not just its appearance. ‘It’s important not to make the shape or design too obvious,’ says Monnerjan. ‘What we are looking for is how to emphasise key features through the DNA of our form language. We do this through the feeling you have when you touch the phone and feel the shapes and textures.’ 

Porsche Design has a long history of working in the smartphone segment, as well as a rich portfolio of luxury design. ‘Our brand looks back on more than 15 years of success in the smartphone business,’ says Monnerjan. ‘Our prestige and success stems from the timeless, functional, and purist design philosophy defined by Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who not only designed the legendary Porsche 911 but also created the world’s first all-black wristwatch, the Chronograph 1 from 1972.’ 

This heritage of meticulous simplicity is perfectly applied to the PORSCHE DESIGN HONOR Magic V2 RSR. ‘Our philosophy is that every product has to be unadorned, useful, and reduced to the essentials,’ Monnerjan explains. ‘There should be nothing excessive on the product.’ 

Porsche’s new generation of high performance BEVs, led by the Taycan and the new Macan, highlight another synergy between the two industries. ‘The utilisation of silicon-based materials in lithium battery anodes shows great promise,’ says Yuan. Honor is leading innovation in battery technology, investing in the use of silicon carbon composite anodes to increase battery density and improve their performance in low temperatures. ‘We will unveil additional co-designed devices that will demonstrate Honor’s pioneering efforts in exploring cross-industry innovation.’

Porsche Design’s skills extends beyond the physical form of the new device; Monnerjan’s team also helped shape parts of the user interface. ‘The rear light of the Porsche 911 served as inspiration for the live wallpaper, while the animation on the charging screen was inspired by the Taycan, Porsche’s first fully electric sportscar,’ Monnerjan says. 

There are other synergies between the two brands, like the ‘flyline’ on the rear of the phone that evokes the fluid lines of a 911, while the colour is Agate Grey, a familiar tone often used to emphasise the lines of Porsche’s range. ‘The flyline design is not only an iconic and timeless design, but also a manifestation of Porsche's excellent aerodynamic innovations. When this speed line is applied to the smartphone body, it not only brings a unique sense of dynamism to the phone but also conforms to the curvature of the user's grip,’ Yuan says. The Agate Grey may be joined by other colourways in Honor and Porsche Design jointly developed products. ‘More inspiration will be drawn from Porsche’s colorways and iconic design elements in our upcoming devices,’ Yuan reveals.

‘We believe that our signature design language must always follow the beauty of the materials used,’ says Yuan. ‘We incorporated Porsche's sculptural texture on the case, and used a material called super fibreglass, originally used as a reinforcement filler for the A-pillar in Porsche 918 Spyder. Then there’s the titanium alloy – you can really feel its strength and durability. Above all, we’re always looking to create something iconic that stands out and is unique.’ 

The technical innovations contained within this elegant package are impressive, from the evolved chassis design that makes the folded device so thin, to the first ever Anti-scratch NanoCrystal Shield to protect the screen. ‘Of course, there are some elements that a phone has to have, like the cameras,’ says Monnerjan. ‘It’s the same with car design; a designer is given a package determined by engineers, so it has to be a collaboration of the two disciplines.’

The screen itself is a foldable OLED LTPO display that supports 1.07 billion colours. Integrated dynamic dimming and a Circadian Night Display function ensure it’s always easy on the eyes. PORSCHE DESIGN HONOR Magic V2 RSR features an impressive triple rear camera system powered by the Honor Image Engine, supporting a wide range of capture modes, including Night, Zoom, and Time-lapse photography. Additionally, the phone supports 4K video on front and rear cameras and Honor’s own AI driven Motion Sensing Technology and Hover Photography.

Porsche Design Honor Magic V2 RSR

For Monnerjan, AI is another creative tool – ‘more keys on our piano, if you like’ – not a source of new design. Nevertheless, the technology is set to have a major impact on how we use our phones, particularly in terms of search, interaction and photography. Honor’s newly launched MagicOS 8.0 incorporates an AI that drives the intent-based user interface (IUI), interpreting language, images, gestures and eye movements as well as traditional inputs. 

According to Yuan, a forthcoming handset, another Honor flagship smartphone, will show the partnership is only just beginning. ‘The challenge is to keep innovating,’ Monnerjan concludes.

hihonor.com porsche-design.com

Also see the new Porsche Design Honor Magic6 RSR

This is the second pure electric car from Porsche, as well as the company’s first all-electric SUV. The new Macan 4, and its zippier, pricier sibling, the Macan Turbo, are the successor to Porsche’s successful small SUV, introduced a decade ago. Since that time, the Macan has been uprated and updated to provide a spirited and authentic blend of Porsche’s original sports car remit and the practical but ethos-shattering Cayenne.

Now the new generation Macan has abandoned the combustion engine for good, becoming the first car in the company’s model line-up to do so (we’re not counting the Taycan, which was an EV from the outset). Porsche’s experience in this sphere is pretty stellar, so the two launch Macan models represent the best-in-class EV experience. That means a range of up to 381 miles (Macan 4) from the 100kWh battery pack. Ultra-fast charging capacity is also on board, with a target of around 20 minutes to take the battery pack from ten to 80 per cent.

Visually, the electric Macan follows the template and proportions of its predecessor, albeit with tidier lines created by the absence of grilles and vents and a hint of chunkier physicality that comes with bearing such a substantial battery pack. The silhouette is also more rakish than before.

The new EV doesn’t escape the auto industry’s relentless scale creep; at 4,784mm long it’s practically the same size as the original 2002 Cayenne (4,846 mm). Luggage space is bolstered by an under-bonnet ‘frunk’ and Porsche says it’ll perform well as a tow car (perhaps for hauling your classic 911 to a track day).

We’ll report back on the driving experience in due course, but the Taycan set the bar for lithe and poised EV dynamics, so in effect Porsche is competing with itself. Notably, the entry-level Macan 4 has performance figures (0-62mph in 5.2 seconds and a top speed of 137 mph) that have barely increased on the outgoing mid-range Macan T and Macan S petrol-engined models; is the era of relentless performance increases finally drawing to a close?

The Turbo makes up for it with a rapid 3.3-second sprint time. It also cements Porsche’s decision to retain the ‘Turbo’ name for electric cars, even though it is totally divorced from its technical origins.

The interior builds on Porsche’s current mastery of ergonomics, with a wide band of screens (including an optional passenger display and a curved screen instrument cluster). There’s also an evolution of the head-up display, which uses augmented reality to overlay navigation directions and other information on the road ahead. Other firsts include optional rear-axle turning for greater manoeuvrability. 

Order books are open now for the new Macan, with our drive report to follow in due course. 

Porsche Macan 4, from £69,800, Macan Turbo, £95,000, first deliveries in Q3 2024, Porsche.com

This round-up of 24 transportation design innovations for 2024 is driven by curiosity rather than any attempt to be comprehensive. The following machines – whether wheeled, winged or just seats or buildings – are all dedicated to making mobility just a little bit easier, more elegant and, hopefully, more efficient. Some are practically in the bag, while others may be subject to slight delays. Read on to discover some of the many ways we’re hoping to get around this year.

Transportation design innovations to expect this year

Lotus Emeya

Lotus’ Eletre SUV was a hugely credible start to the company’s latest revival. 2024 will see the launch of the Lotus Emeya, a four-door sports EV that’s aimed squarely at the current market leader the Porsche Taycan. Sharper styling, innovative tech and graphics and sharp handling are all promised. 

LotusCars.com

Porsche Panamera 

The latest version of Porsche’s mighty Panamera amps up the electrical content for more range and performance, all the while refining the design of the company’s original four-door sporting GT. The outgoing generation was one of our favourite fast four-doors, and the new model looks set to exceed it in every respect. 

Porsche.com

Volkswagen ID.7

Another big saloon, albeit cut from a slightly less sporting mould, Volkswagen ID.7 is the latest model in its all-electric line-up. With a projected range of around 384 miles, the ID.7 is set to be one of the longest-legged EVs to debut this year. 

Volkswagen.co.uk

BMW i5 Touring

BMW’s i5 Touring is the first application of electrification to the company’s traditionally styled estate cars. While estates have been overlooked for too long in favour of SUVs, there’s also an EV estate on the way from Audi, signalling a slight but significant shift in the scale of aspirational cars. 

BMW.co.uk

Hyundai Ioniq 7

Previewed by the Ioniq Concept ‘Seven’ from 2021 (shown here), the forthcoming Ioniq 7 is pitched as the Korean company’s flagship SUV model. Closely related to Kia’s EV9, the Ioniq 7 will be spacious and flexible, as well as distinctively designed.  

Hyundai.co.uk

Cupra Tavascan

Cupra is ploughing ahead with its conversion to a pure EV company. Next up is the Tavascan, a fast-back compact SUV that’s the most coherent representation to date of the Spanish company’s strangely gothic form language. 

CupraOfficial.co.uk

MG Cyberster

As the first electric convertible sportscar to market, the Cyberster is going to attract a lot of attention. Considerably larger than the compact MGs of old, the Chinese-owned brand is still hoping to capture some of their original magic. 

MG.co.uk

Polestar 4

Polestar previews its products well ahead of time, so the shape and style of the 4 is no surprise. Following on from the Polestar 3, an SUV, the Polestar 4 is an SUV coupé, a crucial stylistic distinction that gives this car an elegant silhouette. 

Polestar.com

Volvo EX90

Also incoming from Sweden is the new Volvo EX90, a seven-seater SUV that looks set to embody all the archetypal Volvo qualities – safety, practicality, steadfast style – in an all-electric package.  

VolvoCars.com

Fiat 600e

The upcoming Fiat 600e is much more than an upscaled 500e. Sharing a platform with Jeep’s accomplished Avenger, this modestly sized EV uses Fiat’s friendly design DNA for a more practical everyday proposition. 

Fiat.co.uk

Citroën ë-C3

Billed as the first ‘affordable European electric car’, the Citroën ë-C3 channels the spirit of its stripped-down Ami microcar and Oli concept. With an upright stance, simplified visual language and sub €25k price, the company is positioning this as a 2CV for the 21st century. 

Citroen.co.uk

New Mini EVs

The electrification of Mini gathers pace in 2024 with electric versions of the Mini Countryman and Cooper on the way, along with the Aceman crossover SUV. 

Mini.co.uk

Volocopter Air Taxi

While all the four-wheeled debuts are signposted way in advance, innovations in aerial transport rarely commit to fixed timescales. Air taxi start-up Volocopter has vouched to have a service up and running for this summer's Paris Olympics; will this prove over-ambitious? 

Volocopter.com

CityAirbus NextGen

Airbus Industry’s CityAirbus NextGen is still very much a prototype machine, but 2024 should see this all-electric, four-seater eVTOL aircraft take its first flight. The eVTOL market is crowded with concepts but the backing of Europe’s largest aeronautics company makes this one to watch. 

Airbus.com

Wisk Aero

US air taxi developer Wisk Aero is assembling the production prototype of its sixth-generation aircraft in California with a view to flying the fully autonomous four-seater craft sometime this year. Wisk’s strategy of skipping human pilots altogether is markedly different from potential competitors. 

Wisk.aero

Hill Helicopters HX50

Compared to the futuristic forms proposed by the eVTOL companies, Hill Helicopters is somewhat conventional. Building a traditional rotorcraft from scratch is still a tall order, and the UK-based is focusing on first-time buyers with its sleekly designed five-seater.

HillHelicopters.com

Passenger Terminal, Mumbai

Also coming online late this year are the passenger terminals and control tower at Mumbai’s new D.B. Patil International Airport. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in the firm’s characteristic expressive modernist style, the pavilion-like terminals will be surrounded by lakes and feature voluminous curved roofs. 

NMIAirport.co.in

LAX APM System

Although mass transit and the United States go together like oil and water, Los Angeles Airport has made an effort with its new automated people mover (APM) system. Linking LAX’s terminals with transport nodes outside the airport itself is a start, but in a country where Disney World’s monorail system is allegedly the 9th largest mass transit system, don’t expect any Elizabeth Line-style grand gestures.

LAWA.org

Lufthansa Allegris seating

Lufthansa passengers will finally get an uplift in every class in 2024, as the company rolls out its long-awaited new Allegris seating systems. First and Business Class customers flying the airline’s newest A350 and 787 will get the upgrade this summer. 

Lufthansa.com

Air New Zealand Skynest

Air New Zealand runs some of the longest-haul routes in the world. To make the journey fly by, the company is rolling out its innovative Skynest bunks for passengers flying to New York and Chicago, both 15-plus-hour routes. The pod-like system, designed by Kate Cameron-Donald and Zoe Wenn, offers six bunks that can be pre-booked for a chunk of in-flight sleep.

AirNewZealand.com

Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air

We’ve already previewed the sleek Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air electric speedboat, a collaboration between the sports car maker and the historic Austrian boatbuilder. This year will see first customer deliveries of this super watercraft. 

FrauscherxPorsche.com

Blue Innovations Group R30

Another electric boat to watch out for is BIG’s R30. A 30ft cabin cruiser, the R30 is designed for the big time, pitched at pleasure boat users seeking a multifunctional vessel with zero emissions, with a flexible interior and deck configuration. On-board solar helps top up the battery. 

BlueInnovationGroup.com

BMW Motorrad CE 02

Following on from the launch of the CE 04, BMW Motorrad is branching out with another electric scooter, the CE 02. With a chunkier, more stripped-back style, this is a bike aimed at riders of every ability. 

BMW-Motorrad.co.uk

Stilride 1

Stilride’s debut electric scooter is diametrically different in style to BMW’s offering, with an expressive body formed from origami-inspired bent steel. The Swedish company says the Stilride 1 will get around 120km of range, while its clever construction saves material, waste and labour. 

Stilride.com

We kick off 2024 with our experiences with the lightly refreshed Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid, the flagship version of the company’s flagship model, the absolute summit of the brand. The Touareg was launched way back in 2002 to get VW into the all-important SUV sector. Now in its third generation, it’s actually designated as a ‘mid-size’ SUV in auto-industry terms, although by European standards it clearly sits at the upper end of the scale. 

As it stands, the Touareg has more in common with its close mechanical cousins, the Audi Q8, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus, than it does with any other VW, even its (smaller) SUVs. That is to say that it prioritises plushness, performance and comfort over any sense of ‘utilitarian mobility’. For instance, switch to ‘sport’ mode – which adds extra boost from the electric motor – and the interior lighting scheme transforms the cabin into a Chippenham nightclub, all lairy red and black. It’s not subtle.

In R eHybrid form, at the very top of the VW product tree, this means you’re looking at an £80,000 car, fully laden with an acronymic blizzard of options to assist with progress on and off the road, from highways to parking garages. Truth is, you need a fair bit of help to guide the big Touareg through cities with any degree of precision, such is the scale of this 4.9m-long machine (well over 2m wide including wing mirrors).

Powering all this is a petrol V6 linked to an electric motor and battery pack; the latter gives an electric-only range of around 30 miles. As with all plug-in hybrids, a projected and practical use case is to charge at home for regular short trips, keeping the ICE on hand for longer journeys. All well and good, but the fact remains that you’ll be hauling around 3,000kg of largely redundant technology on the off chance you’ll need to run to the shops as well as traverse a massive sand dune on the same afternoon.

Like many big SUVs, the Touareg offers occupants a sense of impervious detachment from the world, swathed in a layer of technology that cossets, entertains and occasional infuriates (touchscreen-only controls for the heating and aircon, for example). A power output of 455hp means that performance is never lacking, although the aforementioned sport mode ensures everyone on board is well aware of your profligacy.

The world of hybrid SUVs currently offers no half measures. In fact, it’s something of a shock to delve into VW’s current line-up and discover that the brand makes no fewer than eight different SUVs, the T-Roc, Taigo, T-Cross, Tiguan, Tiguan Allspace, the electric ID.4 and ID.5 and the flagship Touareg. Over the Atlantic, there’s also the even larger Atlas and Atlas Sport.

How much longer can this Swiss Army knife approach to car design and engineering survive? The Touareg and its ilk sit at the peak of the auto industry’s imminent tipping point; at some point in the not-too-distant future, battery tech will have sufficiently evolved to make small electric cars a truly viable economic proposition. The current glut of huge hybridised and electric SUVs demonstrates that we’re not there yet. Sure, cars like the Touareg demonstrate that you can have it all in one package, but the costs are high for everyone.

Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid, from £80,710, Volkswagen.co.uk

Chinese manufacturer HiPhi is heading into hypercar territory. The newly announced HiPhi A is set to join a portfolio of three other EVs, the X, Y and Z, when it is launched as a limited-edition model in early 2025.

HiPhi stands slightly apart from the current wave of Chinese EV brands in that is has the premium market well and truly in its sights. The HiPhi X is a low-ish luxury MPV with distinctive two-part rear doors, while the imminent HiPhi Y is a slightly less outré but higher riding SUV, based on the same platform. The trio is completed by the HiPhi Z, an extremely distinctive saloon car that wants to be a gadget-laden alternative to the Porsche Taycan – the info screen is mounted on a robotic arm, for example. 

The A is designed to trump all three in terms of performance, without compromising too much in the way of practicality. The company has thrown everything at this cyberpunk-styled four door, which has a post-DeLorean angularity spliced with an Extreme E-style bodykit. Forged carbon fibre is combined with titanium alloy, wing mirror are replaced by cameras and screens and the performance is suitably outlandish.

HiPhi expects a zero to 100km/h time of around two seconds, with three motors pushing a maximum power out of 1305 PS. It’s worked alongside WESAIL New Energy Automotive to translate the powertrain and learnings from its Apollo supercar to make the A, ensuring that the packaging is up to four full-size seats and plenty of refinement to tame the power. 

There’s no word on price, range or even weight, but should the HiPhi stay unchanged from these images and be a sales success, it’s yet another indication that not having a high-flying legacy brand is no barrier to the electrified sport and luxury market. 

HiPhi A, price and details tbc. For more information, visit HiPhi.com 

In the transition to electrification, few mass-market production car makers have caused as much of a stir as Hyundai. The Korean company pushed the boundaries of convention with its Ioniq 5 model and then unveiled the closely related Ioniq 6. With the latter recently awarded the World Car of the Year 2023, we got behind the wheel of a top spec Ioinq 6 to experience Hyundai’s electric flagship. 

Compared to the faceted form of its sister model, the 5, the Ioniq 6 is a very different aesthetic proposition. A swooping, curvaceous body brings to mind early experiments in streamlined design, or perhaps even a four-door Volkswagen Beetle. From the rear, the collision of spoiler, boot lid and full-width lightbar with its downturned edges has been likened by some to the classic Porsche 911 Turbo; regardless of the aesthetic intention, this sets the 6 apart as a sportier proposition.

Hyundai is more than happy for you to give into temptation and indulge in the propulsive shove that characterises an electric powertrain. All models share the same 77.4 kWh battery, but the all-wheel drive model adds another motor and is substantially faster as a result, with a 0 to 60 mph time of 5.1 seconds. As with every EV, it’s not about top speeds, but acceleration, both from a standstill and at overtaking speeds.

Around fast corners, the Ioniq 6 tracks securely and comfortably, with minimal body roll, and suspension that conceals its mass well. The driving position is rather high, but this is not a traditional sports car, more of a sporting saloon. In any case, you’ll be spending most of your time in the ‘Eco’ drive mode, which maximises range at the expense of slower acceleration. The 6 also has a punchy regenerative braking system which makes one-pedal driving a breeze – simply use the left steering wheel paddle to engage.

Absolute maximum range – one that’s all but unobtainable outside of laboratory conditions – is 338 miles. That should mean a comfortable c300 mile range in day-to-day use, which is our sweet spot for effectively vaporising range anxiety (something we probably won’t even remember in five years’ time). Add in 350Kw charging, the fastest currently available, and the Ioniq 6 can be taken from ten to 80 per cent charge in under 20 minutes.

Inside, the accommodation is similar in scope and scale to the Ioniq 5. There is a slightly more premium feel, especially with the raised centre console with a handy storage underneath and the most premium models get heated seats all round and a useful complement of USB charge points. Points are docked for not allowing Android Auto or Apple CarPlay to operate wirelessly, however. A head-up display completes a comprehensively equipped dash – only the paucity of physical buttons for climate control lets the side down.

Another functionalist misstep is the inclusion of wing mirror cameras in the top spec model. These reduce the car’s width and improve aerodynamics, but the benefits don’t outweigh the downsides. Each screen is angled inwards and placed at the far ends of the dashboard and it takes a while to look inside the car instead of at the (rather bulky) camera units on the doors. The picture offers decent definition, but there’s a hint of the uncanny about looking at a screen, rather than a reflection, that implies less immediacy to whatever it is zooming up behind you.

Other minor quibbles include the incessant bings and bongs emitted by the car’s various warning systems. They’re all switchable, naturally, but everything reverts back to its most alarmist when you restart the car (as legislation now requires). Obey the rules diligently for a quiet life.

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is distinctive without being awkward, technically accomplished and well equipped. It’s an easy car to live with and an easy car to recommend, especially as proper four-door electric saloons are still rather thin on the ground. This car gives this unfashionable sector a much-needed shot in the arm. 

Hyundai IONIQ 6, from £47,040. Ultimate AWD model from £55,035, Hyundai.com

So you want to be an Instagram star? Consider investing in a vintage Fiat 500 Jolly beach car. An adorable sky-blue model from 1959, with wicker seats and an open roof, went up for auction at this year’s Zoute Sale in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. Prior to the sale, it took a few last trips through town, as delighted bystanders smiled, waved, and snapped photos galore.

The beach community known as Knokke Le Zoute was having one of the year’s busiest weekends, thanks to the annual Zoute Grand Prix, a four-day high-end car, art, and lifestyle festival in early October that includes a BonhamsCars auction of vintage and classic cars, an exhibition of new top-of-the-line contemporary cars, a three-day classic car rally, and a GT tour.

Buckle up for the Zoute Grand Prix

The Fiat Jolly had competition for attention – seemingly every other car on the road that weekend was a collector’s item, and the quiet atmosphere was punctuated by the muscular growl of revving engines. At the luxury La Réserve hotel, teenage boys, ‘car spotters’, circled the parking lot, cameras in hand. A particularly excited group gathered to photograph a Bugatti Chiron with German plates. One spotter, from Luxembourg, explained that an alert about the car had gone out on social media. ‘You don’t see many like this,’ he said, kissing his fingers appreciatively.

But fine cars are never an unusual sight here; even a young woman working in the hotel lobby pulled out her phone to show off her family’s two Porsches. Asked whether anyone here drives a Subaru, she just laughed. ‘This is Knokke.’

Commonly referred to as Belgium’s Saint-Tropez, Knokke-Heist was settled at the beginning of the 20th century by three families who catered to British tourists by building a golf course, tennis courts, stables, and white villas with red tile roofs. 

Today, Knokke counts 33,000 inhabitants and 110,000 owners of second homes. Name a monarch or billionaire, and he (or she) is probably here. People are drawn not only by the favourable tax code, but also by 11km of sandy beach, high-end shopping, Michelin-starred restaurants, and a thriving art scene. The town’s art deco casino boasts an astonishing 360-degree mural by Belgian Surrealist René Magritte, measuring 70m wide by 7m tall (soon to be restored as part of a major facelift by TAB Architects and Barozzi Veiga).

The town contains 90 art galleries in just two square kilometres. Perhaps its most prestigious dealer is Guy Pieters, the Belgian son of a house painter who opened his first gallery in Knokke in 1981, knowing he would find collectors nearby. One of his longtime artists is Wolfgang Volz, Christo’s exclusive photographer, who was in town to show his photos of the wrapped Arc de Triomphe. ‘I didn’t know how to spell Knokke,’ said Volz. ‘Now I’ve had about five solo exhibitions here.’

Another artist in Knokke for the weekend was Princess Delphine of Belgium, only recently recognised as part of the royal family after her father, King Albert II, was obliged by the courts to take a DNA test. She drove the last leg of the auto rally in a BMW 507 roadster (lent by BMW from its heritage fleet), just like the one Elvis Presley acquired when doing his military service in Germany. 

Female drivers were definitely a minority in the Zoute Rally, which attracted 250 historic cars and typically has a waiting list. A woman named Patricia, from Antwerp, took the wheel of a red 1963 Jaguar E-Type, while her male partner navigated. When asked why she got to drive, she smiled: ‘Because it’s my car.’

The Zoute Grand Prix was founded in 2010 by two brothers, Filip and David Bourgoo, who owned an Audi-Bentley dealership. Believing that motor shows had grown too big and no longer attracted the right people, they displayed a new car in central Knokke, in front of the Louis Vuitton boutique. Sensing an opportunity, Ferrari asked them to build a marquee for its new products. Other brands followed. ‘Ten years ago, we had to beg to sell cars in Knokke,’ said Filip. ‘Now they’re queuing.’

Collector’s items, contemporary and classic

Visitors paid €75 for a ticket to enter the Grand Prix’s two beachside pavilions. In the Prado Zoute pavilion, 21 car manufacturers showed their latest models, from the Lamborghini Revuelto to the Ferrari Purosangue four-seater. Around half were electric. The car drawing the biggest crowds was the fully electric Rolls-Royce Spectre that customers had just started receiving that very week. The beautiful beast weighed 3 tonnes, with a choice of 44,000 paint colours, and a price tag of €525,000. Product expert Ed Drake said that the car’s bespoke road sound (to alert pedestrians to its presence) was recorded by an orchestra imitating the sound of a Rolls-Royce accelerating.  

Tucked away among the collector cars was the new Rimac Nevera, the young Croatian brand’s first commercial automobile, which has set the record as the world’s fastest electric production car: 0-100 km/h in 1.81 seconds. Brand manager Bernard Van Bellingen said they sold one car this year – a special version, to a buyer in Belgium, for €2.4 million – and that the year’s second sale ‘will arrive’.

There are cars that people drive, and those that sit pretty. The latter, 96 collector cars, were on display in the Zoute Gallery pavilion. Many had barely ever touched asphalt. All of them hit the block on Sunday at BonhamsCars’ tenth annual Zoute Sale, which has quickly become one of the world’s most important auctions of rare collection cars. Ruinart Champagne flowed freely, poured by servers in Magritte-inspired bowler hats. 

Several cars (notably supercars and hypercars), sold for close to one million euros or more, receiving audience applause each time they hit the milestone. An immaculate 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder with less than 400km on the odometer doubled its bottom estimate to reach €1.2 million. ‘Who woulda thought?’ said the auctioneer, Maarten ten Holder, managing director of BonhamsCars, as it blew past one million.

Surprising rarities included a 1997 SAAB EX prototype, a one-of-a-kind car made for the company’s 50th anniversary. A collection of eight different Aston Martins from 2010 were all painted the same tangerine orange colour – a special request by the original owner. A 1956 Bentley S-Type Continental was formerly driven by Helmut Newton. And a 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante once cradled J.Lo’s bottom in her ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing’ music video. Love may be cheap, but this car ended up being a steal at just over €40,000.

The star of the sale was a stunning beige 1959 Ferrari 250 GT ‘Tour de France’ with all original parts, owned for 37 years by Swiss racing driver Plinio Haas. It went for slightly below its estimate, €4.83 million (including premium), to a North American client, pushing the day’s total sales to more than €27 million, a record for BonhamsCars.

And the little blue Fiat Jolly? After a round of lively bidding, it sold for an impressive €155,250 to a bidder from the United Arab Emirates.

Zoute Grand Prix, ZouteGrandPrix.be, Cars.Bonhams.com

The Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air sees Porsche become the latest carmaker to put its name to a powerful speedboat. The company’s partnership with Frauscher has an ulterior motive. Just as Polestar teamed up with electric hydrofoil specialist Candela to highlight the company’s battery tech, Porsche has turned to the Austrian shipyard to demonstrate the drive tech that’ll be underpinning the forthcoming, next-generation all-electric Porsche Macan.

The 850 Fantom Air is an electric sports boat, handbuilt at Frauscher’s facility in Ohlsdorf. Recently given a workout on the waters of Lake Garda in Italy after a lengthy development process, the boat will make its first public appearance at the 2024 Düsseldorf International Boat Show before going on sale to the public.

Based on the Frauscher 858 Fantom Air day cruiser, the Porsche version is 8.67m and has space for up to nine passengers, with a swim platform and two sun loungers at the rear and a couple of benches up front. The cockpit seats bear the Porsche shield, while the steering wheel is a classic Porsche design, finished in materials that’ll withstand salt and spray – the seats are also upholstered in artificial leather for the same reason. 

Porsche has gone a step further than Polestar and this ‘eFantom Air’ incorporates drivetrain technology directly derived from the innards of the new Macan. This includes parts of Porsche’s Premium Platform Electric system, from the 400 kW motor and electronics to the 100 kWh battery. 

Other parallels with road-going Porsche’s are the ability to select pre-programmed ‘driving modes,’ in this case Docking, Range, Sport and Sport Plus settings. The first keeps the speed down for driving in harbours and other speed-limited areas, while the maximum distance achievable in Range mode is roughly 45km, providing you stick to the optimum cruising speed of 41km/h (22 knots). In Sport Plus mode the boat will top out at an impressive 85 km/h (46 knots), although this will pummel the battery in short measure. 

Stefan Frauscher, managing director of Frauscher Shipyard, described the boat as a ‘real milestone in the industry. The electric version of the Fantom Air is better than the version with an internal combustion engine in all driving characteristics, such as top speed, acceleration and handling – and at the same time locally emission-free.’ Finally, the new boat can be fast charged using the same system found in Porsche’s electric models, with a suggested time of half an hour to charge the battery from 10 per cent to 80 per cent. 

Studio FA Porsche also designed the cockpit, creating a gloss black instrument panel surrounded by a frameless tinted acrylic glass windscreen. The five dials on the top of the dash reference the classic Porsche dashboard layout, with a start button located on the left of the steering wheel, just like in road-going Porsches. The studio also shaped the two front seats, drawing direct inspiration from sports car design. 

Other equipment includes folding tops to shade the passenger areas, a 12in information screen with echo sounder and chart plotter, a high-end Bluetooth audio system and LED ambient and underwater lighting. Porsche has made available its copious colour palette so that customers can exactly match their car(s). Just 25 boats will be built in the first production run. 

Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air, from €561,700, FrauscherxPorsche.com

This is the new Lotus Emeya, the second model in the company’s much-vaunted electrification product strategy after the well-received Eletre SUV. While there will be shared on-board tech and drivetrain components, the Emeya is a different kind of car, a ‘Hyper-GT’, in Lotus’s own coinage, designed to go up against the current market leaders like the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT. 

Just like with the Eletre, this is unknown territory for Lotus, which had thus far spent its history focused almost exclusively on two-seater sports cars (with the occasional compact rear seats tucked in behind). There’s a clear familial resemblance to the faceted, duct-straked visual language of the Eletre, but the Emeya is (obviously) lower and sleeker, with the passenger compartment offering a more intimate, bespoke experience. In an increasingly commonplace move in the premium sector, the Emeya includes a new ‘luxury thread’ made from repurposed fibre as well as other recycled materials. 

Perhaps that’ll also translate into a more dynamic experience, but the Eletre has already set benchmarks as one of the best handling large-scale SUVs on the market. Still, performance is absolutely central to the Lotus ethos, so we can expect the Emeya to live up to its ‘hyper’ billing. 

The numbers released ahead of the launch suggest that it’ll be no slouch off the line, with the top specification model capable of a 2.8 second sprint to 62mph, and presumably plenty of shove in the mid-range as well. EV buyers also care passionately about the available range, and although deploying that acceleration won’t help you get anywhere quicker, we’d expect it to best the Eletre’s top-line range of 370 miles. 

The Emeya also shares the Eletre’s ability to top that range up in record time, adding 93 miles in just five minutes on a (rare) 350kW fast charger, and reaching 80 per cent in 18 minutes. Other key technologies include the active aerodynamics, which improve stability and driving efficiency, as well as electronically controlled air suspension. It’ll also share the Eletre’s monumental-sounding Dolby Atmos-enabled audio system, developed in collaboration with KEF.

The new Emeya will start production in 2024 in the same Chinese facility as the Eletre. Pricing will also be announced at a later date. 

Lotus Emeya, available in 2024, pricing tbc, LotusCars.com

With a shared emphasis on engineering, elegance and precision, watches and cars have always made excellent bedfellows, a fact that hadn’t escaped Tag Heuer and Porsche, who cemented their unofficial partnership in 2021 with the launch of a new watch nodding to the motorsports background of both brands.

Together, they are now marking 60 years of both the Tag Heuer Carrera collection and the Porsche 911 (originally known as the 901) with the new Tag Heuer Carrera Chronosprint x Porsche. Available in either gold or steel, the pieces are equipped with a brand new movement directly inspired by the Porsche 911 engine.

‘The good thing about the Tag Heuer Carrera is that it has some very strong design codes,’ says Tag Heuer heritage director Nicholas Biebuyck of Jack Heuer’s creation, which encapsulated the legibility crucial in both racing and watch design. ‘Today, we could call the real purity of the design midcentury modernism but at the time it was just Jack – he had a great passion for cultural communication, and spoke about his love of Oscar Niemeyer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the Bauhaus movement. It’s important to take inspiration from these things, but also to try and bring them into a modern era. So of course you will retain the absolute legibility, but it’s fundamentally a work designed for a specific purpose.’

The partnership is a natural one for both brands, whose history has long been intertwined. Upon its introduction in 1963, the Porsche 911, designed by Ferdinand Alexander ‘Butzi’ Porsche, broke records with its 0-100 km/h acceleration in 9.1 seconds. This achievement inspired many, including Jack Heuer, whose love of a racing success story led him to follow the legendary Carrera Panamericana road race, the name later sparking the idea for a family of watches. The Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7, released in the 1970s, was also inspired by the name.

‘The partnership goes back to the 1950s and 1960s,’ Biebuyck notes. ‘Throughout the 1960s, we had great drivers who had this connection with both brands. In the 1970s, this was reinforced with Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, Jo Siffert and the Steve McQueen connection. Both brands go through this kind of rebirth, with us relaunching Carrera in 1996, Porsche reintroducing the 911 in 1997. Ever since, we’ve been on these parallel paths.’

The technically accomplished new movement, designed for precise measurements of short time intervals, translates the power of Porsche’s engine into miniature horological form. ‘The movement strategy is very clear for the maison,’ says Tag Heuer movements director Carole Forestier-Kasapi. ‘We want to innovate. In the last two years, we have elevated quality in the durability of our new movements, which is why we are able today to propose a five-year warranty on these.’ 

Understated design details ensure that, while this new watch was inspired by the Porsche 911, a literal translation is eschewed. ‘The question is, what can we bring in that speaks authentically?’ asks Biebuyck. ‘That’s how we ended up with this choice of colour codes and typography. There’s also this great technical innovation in the calibre that we created specifically for the collection. You get these multilayered narratives. It’s what makes this partnership so powerful, because we can speak at so many levels.’ 

Tag Heuer Carrera Chronosprint X Porsche, £8,050, by Tag Heuer, tagheuer.com. Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet, £151,266, by Porsche, porsche.com

This article appears in the October 2023 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print from 7 September, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Porsche continues to ramp up its credibility as a brand with impeccable connections to the worlds of art and design, inviting collaborations and partnerships as well as stewarding its own rich past. Artifacts is part of that process, a new book created from the company’s Historic Archive in Zuffenhausen. 

The Porsche archive is unsurprisingly comprehensive and includes plenty of things you would expect – styling models, sketches, engineering drawings – as well as great swathes of more esoteric ephemera from across the company’s 75-year history of producing cars. 

Delve into Porsche history

Some of this is on display in the Porsche Museum – much more is squirrelled away and ripe for discovery. Overseen by ERG Media, which is also responsible for Porsche’s Type 7 Instagram page, Artifacts is presented as if it were an archaeological dig into industrial history.

With a nod to Porsche’s very first model, the book is 356 pages long, with photography throughout by Thomas Walk of ERG Media. Rather than simply scan or catalogue the collection, Walk and his team have opted for a moodier, more atmospheric approach, using strong lighting and fetishistic close-ups of items, whether they’re parts, prototypes or even tools used to shape the early cars. 

The photography is accompanied by a separate pull-out index that gives detail and context about each object, written by Type 7 editor Nat Twiss. The whole monograph is also lavishly presented in a package designed in collaboration with Andy Cruz of House Industries. The hardback book itself is sealed into a reproduction ‘archive box’, which is in turn wrapped in a faux design blueprint. 

Patina and heritage are an integral component of a car-maker’s story, and in this age of new brands and new names, the experienced players are making the most of their past riches. Artifacts is a fitting historic chronicle of a company that has always kept a weather eye on the past. 

Artifacts, available from ERG.media Porsche.com and select Porsche global centres

Type 7 Magazine, House Industries

Singer Vehicle Design builds meticulous modern iterations of the Porsche 911, restorations that go far beyond the original car and enhance every facet of driving experience. Founded in 2009 by Rob Dickinson, the California-based manufacturer is a source of under-the-radar icons for those in the know – cult doesn’t ever cover it. A Singer vehicle is entirely bespoke and handcrafted, truly ‘reimagined’ with design details, materials, finishes and performance that far exceed the original specification.

Over the years, the company has worked its way through Porsche’s back catalogue, focusing on the air-cooled ‘964’ variants of the 911 that Porsche built from 1989 to 1994. For legal reasons, Singer states explicitly that it doesn’t ‘manufacture or sell automobiles’; instead, it ‘restores and reimagines’ Porsche 911s ‘at the direction of its clients’. 

Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer – DLS Turbo

This neatly side-steps any objections the German brand might have, but also gives Singer some leeway to explore the wilder side of design and performance. The latest model, the DLS Turbo, does exactly that. Inspired by Porsche’s fearsome 934 and 935 racing cars of the late 1970s, which dominated endurance events like Le Mans and Daytona, the ‘Blood Orange’ DLS (Dynamics & Lightweighting Study) Turbo was created for a customer who wanted to focus on track driving; the Moet Blanc car is a more road-focused design. 

Dickinson has a strong emotional connection with the original 1970s-era machines, with their expansive body kits, rear wings and hugely uprated performance. Every Singer is the result of a complete reconstruction, including new carbon-fibre bodywork and aero kit. The original engine is also rebuilt, with outputs of over 700hp made possible by new high-performance components. 

The price? Seven figures is a good starting point. A ‘reimagined’ car of this complexity and sophistication is not a cheap option; there are plenty of traditional restorers who can make your Porsche 911 feel like new. Instead, a Singer is practically another category in itself, a true bespoke supercar imbued with a deeply felt historical association. 

Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer, from $1m, SingerVehicleDesign.com

This is the Porsche Mission X, a dramatic new hypercar concept unveiled 75 years to the day after the very first production Porsche was completed. 

You may have noticed a trend in recent hypercar design: storied manufacturer unveils an incredibly dramatic concept car and promises the world. Several years later, the world has not manifested, and a torturous combination of waning budgets, over-ambition, massive complexity and the laws of physics have diluted the initial impact. 

It’s true that Aston Martin ultimately made good its promise of an F1 car for the road, delivering the Valkyrie to a brave coterie of patient customers who now have the pleasure of terrifying themselves in a machine that offers high stakes at low speeds. Mercedes has also admitted to biting off more than it can chew with the AMG One, a hybrid road-going hypercar built around an F1 engine, with all the foibles, complexities and compromises that entailed. 

And Porsche? Well, Porsche is doing things differently. The company has always indulged in the one-upmanship inherent in the sports car industry, but more often than not, its solutions are both devastatingly quick but also surprisingly easy to drive. The 1986 Porsche 959 springs to mind. A contemporary of the Ferrari F40, it was also its diametric opposite, stuffed full of technology in a 911-derived body that made it eminently practical. We’ll skip over the tricksy 2004 Carrera GT, which demanded elite levels of driving skill, and also consider the impressive Porsche 918 Spyder, revealed in 2013. 

Now Porsche is at it again. The new Mission X was unveiled on 8 June 2023 at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, part of the marque’s ongoing 75th birthday celebrations. It also marks the debut application of Porsche’s new badge. 

Right now, it’s still a concept, but should Porsche decide to go ahead – no doubt encouraged by the sound of chequebooks fluttering down the phone lines – it wants the car to set a few markers. First up is to break the lap speed record for the fastest road-legal car around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the 13-mile-long German circuit that is an unofficial benchmark of sports car prowess.

Porsche Mission X concept: record-breaking ambition

Porsche also wants this car to be speedy in other ways, suggesting it could be fully charged in just half the time of the current Taycan Turbo S. For the Mission X is pure electric, and a gauntlet thrown down in the face of Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, et al, as well as reigning EV champions like the Rimac Nevera and the (closely related) Pininfarina Battista. Lest we forget, Porsche owns a chunk of Rimac, an arrangement that no doubt enables some engineering secrets to be shared. 

Resplendent in Rocket Metallic (a fancy shade of brown), the Mission X continues Porsche’s history of off-the-books cars, esoteric side-projects and weird one-offs. Porsche describes the concept as a ‘technology beacon for the sports car of the future’, and the concept looks polished and production-ready, designed down to the tiniest detail inside and out. 

As well as the EV powertrain and high-performance aspirations, the Mission X marks a departure from the aggressive era of hypercar design. Yes, there are hints of Porsche’s legendary endurance racers, most notably the doors that reference the Porsche 917, as well as the vertical stack of headlights, but it’s not a crazed confection of aero and carbon like many of its rivals. Modestly scaled (just 1.2m tall), the Mission X illustrates that Porsche wants to retain its sporting crown long after the last cylinder has fired. 

Porsche Mission X Concept, Porsche.com

Michael Mauer, vice president of style at Porsche, has overseen the creation of a new Porsche badge, the latest iteration of a longstanding and ever-evolving symbol of sports motoring. 

Ferrari isn’t the only company to have a rampant horse on its badge. Although the Italian stallion was originally associated with 1930s racing Alfa Romeo, Enzo Ferrari’s former team, it has been associated with Ferrari’s own cars since the first Ferrari 125 S of 1947. 

The following year, a new sports car maker emerged from the ashes of post-war German industry. Porsche’s badge has more in common with traditional heraldry than its Italian counterpart. The horse comes from the flag of the city of Stuttgart (‘stud garden’, a name which gives away its horse-breeding history). The first badge bore the name of the company and its hometown, with the black and red colouring and deer-antler motif lifted directly from the shield of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, the state founded in 1945 and eventually becoming part of Baden-Württemberg.

This clearly Germanic symbol was partly due to influential car importer Max Hoffman, the man who brought Porsche to the USA. Hoffman wanted the new 356 sports car to better signal its origins, and the crest was drawn up in 1952, four years after the car debuted. 

The draughtsman behind the logo was one Franz Xaver Reimspiess, an Austrian engineer responsible for much of the mechanical innovation behind the Volkswagen Beetle. Reimspiess was also rumoured to have designed the Volkswagen logo in 1936.  

The new crest maintains the form and dimensions of the original but tightens up every element. ‘The “75 years of Porsche sports cars” anniversary was the occasion for us to fundamentally rework this trademark,’ Mauer says, ‘We reinterpreted historical characteristics and combined them with innovative design elements such as a honeycomb structure and brushed metal.’

It's taken three years to shape this badge, both as a three-dimensional physical object to adorn the cars and as a 2D logotype that’ll been seen around the world both digitally and in printed matter. The process was overseen by Joachim Paetzel, specialist for colour and trim at the brand. 

Every facet is different, included a softer coloured gold, a finely tapered bevel around the edge, the application of clear brushed metal surfaces behind the antlers and a new 3D honeycomb pattern for the red stripes. The word ‘Stuttgart’ now uses Porsche’s own typeface and the horse itself has been redrawn to be bolder and less stylised.

The original crest was given a refresh in 1954, then again in 1963, 1973, 1994, 2008 and finally in 2014. This new badge will make its debut on the new Porsche Panamera, due at the end of 2023. The company keeps historic badges in production, however, as the Porsche Classic restoration service needs to have access to every conceivable part. With 75 years of heritage to preserve, plus high hopes of at least another 75 to come, brand identities are precious enough to need continuous care.

Porsche.com

What is there left to say about the Porsche 911? The evergreen sports car has weathered an evolution that has seen it through nearly 60 years and eight generations, giving Ferry Porsche's original icon of sporting simplicity a breadth of ability and diversity that would have been unthinkable back in the early 1960s.

The modern 911 and its many, many derivatives can run rallies, climb mountains, beat £1m hypercars off the line, win global racing championships and function as a practical everyday car that can, at a pinch, even serve a smallish family (except perhaps in elaborate Targa-topped version). 

With Porsche's electrification strategy roaring forwards, the current generation of 911 (internally designated 992) is likely to be the last available solely with an internal combustion engine. This is both a blessing and a curse. The former because Porsche's engineers are second to none and have already demonstrated they can build a world-beating sporting EV (the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo).

It's a curse, because so much of the 911’s character has been bound up in the evolution of its engine, from the original’s air-cooled flat-6 ‘boxer’ engines, through to pioneering developments in turbo-charging, a race-derived system that uses the waste energy of exhaust gases to spin a turbine that draws more air into the engine, increasing the combustion rate and hence power output.

This is the top of the ‘stock’ range of current 911s, the 911 Turbo S. The first turbo-charged 911 appeared in 1972 and quickly laid bare the shortcomings of the 911’s unconventional layout. Sticking an engine over the rear axle while finding space for rear seats beneath a swooping coupé form was a fiendish trick of packaging. It was also fundamentally unbalanced, and as 911s got heavier and swifter, they acquired a fearsome reputation as a car that could quickly become unstable in inexperienced hands.

Just as the lore and physics of turbo-charging will soon pass into history, it’s also unthinkable for a modern car maker to release a fundamentally unstable machine. Today’s 911 Turbo has four-wheel drive and modern traction control systems, excellent balance and unimaginably better aerodynamics than its ancestors. The 911 no longer has any handling demons, but the fact remains that the car is, and always has been, a compromise pushed to the very limits of what's possible.

The evolutionary process has also been mostly kind to Ferry Porsche’s original shape.  A 911 has one of the strongest and most recognisable silhouettes of any production car, regardless of generation, and the 992 continues this graceful ageing process. Every 911 is a delight to drive, thanks to its combination of ergonomic back-to-basics and direct, responsive steering. Porsche set the original gold standard for a sports car you can use every day, and the modern 911 shows no sign of relinquishing that role.

In Turbo S guise, you get rather more brutishness. A 2.7-second sprint to 62mph, and a 205mph top speed are still impressive, even in this age of hypercars and lightning-fast EVs. Even the fuel consumption remains palatable, certainly in comparison with the last examples of V8 and V12 engines that you’ll find in its competitors. 

However, it’s not a stretch to say that this kind of performance is largely redundant in the modern world. If you’re seduced by the shape and basic package, then the most basic 911 will surely suffice. If you have the means and space to explore the limits – such as a racetrack – then specialist variants like the 911 GT3 and GT3 strip out the luxuries and focus on the lap times. 

Where does that leave the Turbo? As an everlasting icon, for sure, regardless of what the future brings. The next 911 will include some level of hybridisation, a move that risks adding even more complexity to what was once considered the most purist and honest of all sports car forms, albeit a little flawed in conception. It’s a challenge Porsche is no doubt tackling with relish. 

Porsche 911 Turbo S, from £168,000, Porsche.com

2023 is a year of many anniversaries for Porsche. Not only is the venerable 911 celebrating its 60th year, but the company is also keen to foreground 100 years of the Le Mans 24 Hour, the gruelling endurance race that has been won by Porsche more than any other manufacturer. Perhaps most important of all is the 75th anniversary of Porsche’s very first sports car, the 356 No.1 Roadster – effectively the birth of the modern company.

Celebrations of this milestone have included a dramatic new digital artwork inspired by Porsche’s brand purpose, Driven by Dreams, developed in collaboration with Lusion and Wallpaper*, and premiered in London in January 2023. But the company has gone further, with this special four-wheeled birthday present to itself, the Vision 357.

Porsche Vision 357: an unashamed sports car

The Porsche Vision 357 is an unashamed sports car, built atop the most hardcore version of the brand’s current compact two-seater, the 718 Cayman GT4 RS. Michael Mauer, Porsche’s vice president of style, describes the design study as ‘an attempt to combine the past, present and future with coherency, featuring proportions that are reminiscent of its historical archetype and details that visualise the outlook for the future’.

The Vision 357 captures some of the monolithic, clamshell-like detailing of Ferry Porsche’s original, VW-derived sports car, stripping the familiar silhouette back to its basic proportions and choosing to emphasise the curve of the roof as it flows down over the pronounced rear wheel arches. 

There’s a refound simplicity, an approach lost to years of revisions, refinements and legislative compromises (an aspect of the project the design team were happy to completely ignore). The grey paintwork is another nod to the company’s early years, a time when the radical simplicity of the original 356 was a true breath of fresh air.

Does this concept herald a new design direction? Mauer is adamant that the 357 represents a chance to ‘play around and explore’, and the choice of a combustion engine might raise eyebrows. Perhaps only a company that is as truly comfortable with electrification as Porsche could make such a self-consciously retrograde decision; note the little dinosaur decal just ahead of the rear wheel arch. It’s a deliberate nod to fossil fuels.

The most likely influence the 357 will wield is in Porsche’s approach to lighting. By using LEDs and blending the form of the headlights into the bodywork, Mauer and his team might have given a hint as to the future of one of the company’s most famous visual signatures. With EV versions of the Macan and 718 Boxster and Cayman waiting in the wings, all eyes are on Porsche to see how it evolves the electrification journey it began so successfully with the Taycan. 

‘I’d be lying if I didn’t say we could have done it on the electric platform,’ Mauer says. ‘We wanted to avoid people taking this as the next generation 911.’ For now, take the Vision 357 at face value; a gift the design department has given to itself. The concept will be a key exhibit at the new exhibition, ‘75 Years of Porsche sports cars’, on show at the VW Group’s Forum in Berlin. 

Porsche’s relationship with concept cars has shifted in recent years. For decades, the company kept its design studies under wraps, playing its cards close to its chest as it explored new niches, markets and technologies. Under Mauer’s leadership, the Stuttgart-based company has pulled the wraps off many recent design studies, even going so far as to publish a monograph, Porsche Unseen, of the best unseen models from the archives. Could the Vision 357 be built, even in an ultra-short production run? Mauer isn’t saying, but he is promising more such ‘gifts’ to come throughout the year.

Drive-Volkswagen-Group.com, Porsche.com

Hotel Eden in Rome is appealing to our spirit of adventure with the offer of a mountain driving exploration of the mountains in the surrounding Lazio region at the wheel of a Porsche. 

The tour’s destination, Monte Terminillo, is only one hour from Rome and provides a picturesque setting for hiking, skiing, and now mountain drives, thanks to this romantic excursion from Hotel Eden, one of the Dorchester Collection’s two properties in Italy. 

Hotel Eden’s drive to Monte Terminillo, at the wheel of a Porsche 718 Boxster

The driving experience, an eight-hour trip in all, involves a Porsche 718 Boxster, a sat-nav guided tour to Lazio’s highest mountain summit, an on-foot guide through the landscape, and lunch for two. The 718 Boxster is the fourth and most recent iteration of the repeatedly redesigned, two-seater open-topped classic sports car, which was first conceived in 1992 and released in 1996.

The experience is facilitated by The Drivers Club, an Italian company that crafts luxury motoring experiences all over the country, variously incorporating art, nature, culture, and food. Its offerings range from short excursions along the Amalfi Coast to travelling holidays through Italy’s most romantic mountainous regions.

At Hotel Eden itself, guest itineraries are awash with spa treatments, and expansive views of the urban Roman landscape, from the comfort of its central location. The historic property, which first began receiving guests in the late 1880s, features interiors reimagined in 2017 by studios Moinard Bétaille and Jouin Manku, whose reworking collates art, the existing architecture, and modern luxury.

dorchestercollection.com

thedriversclub.it

The Porsche Boxster is something of an automotive evergreen, the Platonic ideal of a compact two-seater open sports car that simultaneously harks back to the company’s origins while also remaining its purest statement of sporting intent. 

These days, the Boxster is known as the 718, a simple designation along the lines of its older sibling, the 911. 2023 marks the 911’s 60th birthday; the 718 Boxster is a far more recent arrival. Although the 911 remains Porsche’s defining model, this most iconic of sports cars gets more sophisticated and complex with each passing generation. The Boxster was a way of getting back to basics. 

The first hint of the new model came in early 1993, with the reveal of the Boxster concept at the Detroit Motor Show. With a new name that combined Porsche’s four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ engine with ‘Roadster’, the elegant silver-painted concept car was the first public manifestation of two years’ worth of design work. 

This was the height of the retro-future era of car design, but while the Boxster certainly harked back to some Porsche classics – notably the 1950s-era 550 Spyder and 718 RS 60, not to mention the original 356 Speedster – it was exceptionally pure in its form and detailing. A rapturous reception from the auto press and potential buyers convinced the company that any production model would have to bear a striking similarity to the concept, or risk disappointment. 

One of Porsche’s biggest worries for the Boxster was that it would cannibalise sales from the larger and more expensive 911. While the latter’s diverse model range runs the gamut from open-top sports cruiser to all-out supercar and quirky off-roader, the Boxster has always had a rather more singular character. Convertibles aren’t to every market’s taste, but the baby Porsche’s key target – America – has always been keen on open-topped cars. It was the American market that boosted the company’s fortunes in its earliest days, and so it proved with the Boxster.

When the production car finally arrived, in spring 1996, it was an immediate success, opening up a new audience to the company at a time of declining sales and perilous finances. While the Boxster, and its sibling car, the closed-top Cayman that launched in 2005, were briefly best sellers, their key importance was in reiterating Porsche’s commitment to the sports car. It was the arrival of the Cayenne SUV that really reversed the company’s fortunes. 

Inside the Porsche 718 Boxster

But that’s another story. The Porsche Boxster is now in its fourth generation, with around 400,000 sold to date. We’re happy to report that this latest iteration is just as delightful as the original. Few cars feel as well-balanced and so dynamically sorted as this little convertible. As tested in GTS 4.0 trim, with more sporting accoutrements and upgrades, it shares its spirited verve with plenty of power and practicality. It’s a strict two-seater, with a well-insulated hood that fits snugly over the immaculately laid-out cabin. Everything falls easily to hand, and the excellent visibility and perfect driving position make this a car you can easily use every day.

Porsche’s faith in sports cars will be tested in the coming years. Up until now, the company’s electrification strategy has been focused on larger cars like the Taycan and the forthcoming Macan EV, as well as hybrid versions of the Panamera and Cayenne. Hybridising or even electrifying the tightly packaged 911 was seemingly not an option. 

Porsche Boxster and an electric future

Current intelligence suggests that a 911 hybrid will ultimately see the light of day, the culmination of a development project that has taken well over a decade. At around the same time, the 718 series will be re-born as pure electric sports cars, a market sector that is currently sorely lacking. How do we feel about that? For purists, the idea will take quite some getting used to. 

For Porsche, it’s a commercial necessity: companies that cater to raw desire rather than day-to-day need have a vested interest in maintaining the mobility status quo. For that reason alone, Porsche can’t allow the electric Boxster to disappoint. In the 718, it has set itself exceptionally high standards to exceed.

Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0, from £66,340

Porsche.com

We’re admirers of admired Everrati’s approach to classic cars. As well as being strictly pragmatic in the face of coming legislation, the British EV converter’s practice is also driven by enthusiasm for design and innovation. In short, Everrati will take a classic and modify it with a brand-new electric powertrain.

The Oxfordshire-based company cut its teeth on evergreen classics like the Porsche 911, along with a one-off continuation model of the Ford GT40 built in collaboration with Superformance LLC. Now it has increased its output with two new electrified models, the original Range Rover and the enduring Land Rover Defender.

Everrati electric drive classics

An Everrati machine is effectively a restoration as well as a tech upgrade. The company has developed its own EV powertrain, which it tailors for every model it adapts, so that the motors and batteries can be seamlessly integrated within the original chassis. The ambition is to maintain the essential character of the original cars, while also giving owners the opportunity to specify any optional extra or finish they desire.

While the original Defender was a somewhat agricultural machine, the addition of electric power shaves off the rough edges without compromising any of its off-road abilities. In addition to the Defender model, launched in 1990 as a development of the Land Rover 90 and 110 models (which in turn were evolutions of the Series III Land Rover, with roots that could be directly traced all the way back to the original 1948 car), Everatti also offers its kit in the Land Rover Series IIA, the 1961 model that encapsulates the functionalist visual style and practicality that have come to define the model.

The next new model in the line-up is a zero-emission version of the Range Rover Classic, the crisply detailed 1970s icon that effectively created the idea of an upmarket 4x4 that was equally at home in town as it was in a muddy field. The Classic, as it’s now known, was the first model in a lineage that is now in its fifth generation. The originals had only two doors and a stripped-down interior, far removed from the luxurious accoutrements of the modern version. In Everrati’s hands, the Classic is given a makeover, inside and out, with new leather upholstery and upgraded instruments, all in keeping with the original 1970s aesthetic.

Everrati isn't the only company looking to give new lease of life to classic designs in this way - Florida-based ECD Automotive Design is also in the electrified Land-Rover market. As electric tech evolves and improves, and more and more people want a luxury car with character and history, you can expect this niche market sector to keep on expanding.

Land Rover Defender from £185,000 + Donor vehicle

Land Rover Series IIA from £159,950 + Donor vehicle 

Range Rover Classic from £230,000 + Donor vehicle

Everrati.com

Porsche’s motorsport dominance isn’t limited to the racetrack. Since the early days of the company, its products have also excelled at the arduous art of rallying. At this year’s LA Auto Show, the company has finally returned to this heritage, perhaps spurred on by a number of independent ventures into more rugged, go-anywhere Porsche conversions.

The new Porsche 911 Dakar will be limited to just 2,500 cars. Directly inspired by the 911 that triumphed in the gruelling Paris-Dakar Rally in 1984 (actually known as the Porsche 953), the new model is available in both a conventional paint job as well as a ‘Rallye Design Package’ mimicking the original car’s appearance.

Porsche’s involvement in the Paris-Dakar not only gave rise to the introduction of four-wheel-drive to the 911 range, but also birthed the 959 supercar, which arrived on the scene two years after the victory, originally to target the wild performance machines in Group B rally racing. Four-wheel drive is now available across the 911 range, as well as forming the core of Porsche’s SUVs, the Porsche Macan and the Cayenne.

The 911 Dakar is immediately distinct from its road-focused siblings by the raised ride height, which sits at 50mm more than a 911 Carrera. The car can also be raised an additional 30mm for even more ground clearance – and it can be driven at speeds of up to 170km/h at this height. 

Power comes from a three-litre biturbo six-cylinder engine, pushing out 480 PS and capable of reaching 100km/h in 3.4 seconds. The special rugged all-terrain tyres limited top speed to 240 km/h. 

At the rear, the 911’s pop-up spoiler has been replaced with a fixed carbon-fibre reinforced plastic version, and there’s a new CFRP front luggage compartment cover with deep air inlets just like the ultimate 911, the GT3.

Optional extras include a roof basket for those all-important rally tools like shovels and traction boards, and there’s even an optional roof tent. The Porsche Design team has also come up with a matching chronograph for total completists. 

The Rallye Design Package has a two-tone paint finish in White/Gentian Blue Metallic, a colour combo that – it should be noted – originated with Rothmans International, the British tobacco manufacturer (‘the greatest name in cigarettes’) that bankrolled Porsche back in the 1980s. The company has thoughtfully adapted the forbidden and defunct logo into the word ‘Roughroads’, and you can also specify the race number of your choice. 

Porsche 911 Dakar, from £173,000, Porsche.com

The archives of the past are always open to being raided, copyright notwithstanding. We’ve touched on companies that are overhauling automotive classics with new technology, most notably electric propulsion (see our article on electric restomods). However, there are also those who can reshape iconic forms without completely changing the character of the car. Instead, refined design, uprated tech, and a bespoke approach to every aspect of design ensure these restomods are instant collectors’ items for discerning individualists. 

A new addition to this exclusive garage is the 928 by Nardone Automotive, a gracefully modernised version of Porsche’s endearingly different 928, complete with pop-up headlines and a sympathetically 1970s-inspired interior.

The Porsche 928 was originally conceived as a replacement for the venerable 911. Development started in the 1970s and the car, heavier and hugely more complicated than its predecessor, was eventually launched in 1977. Straight away it became clear it complemented, rather than eclipsed, its stablemate, and the two models ran in parallel until the last 928, the S4, was built in 1995. 

As a front-engined, rear-wheel drive four-seater, the 928 was defiantly different to its sibling. The intense engineering was rewarded by the 1978 European Car of the Year award, although it was never quite the sales success Porsche had hoped.

After a couple of decades in the doldrums, enthusiasts are now flocking to these early examples of high-tech automotive design. 

One passionate fan is the French entrepreneur Thierry Nardone, a man self-confessedly obsessed with this era of Porsche design.

‘Back in the day, the 928 was a very disruptive design with a huge investment in engineering, so it was 20 years in advance compared to other cars,’ he says. ‘Today, after having disassembled one, I can confirm that it is still contemporary in terms of its engineering.’ 

This is Nardone’s vision, the 928 by Nardone Automotive. Starting with an original 928 S4 as a donor car, the vehicle is stripped back and completely rebuilt, with all-new carbon-fibre body panels, a refurbished and upgraded engine, and an interior that takes the spirit of the original but channels it through the art of Dieter Rams, Bill Amberg, and Jony Ive.

Save for a subtle flaring of the rear wheel arches to accommodate larger 18in wheels and a slightly more technical approach to the pop-up lights, Nardone’s vision retains the original’s bold forms. 

The new body panels are made near Turin – Nardone describes the region as the ‘Silicon Valley of the car industry’ – and he has worked with French firm Podium Advanced Technologies on the engineering, and Italian company BorromeodeSilva on the design.

The Milanese studio was previously responsible for the Lancia Delta Integrale Futurista, an earlier restomod project. 

The 928 by Nardone Automotive was revealed to the world during Milan Design Week 2022, although for now it is only a rolling demonstrator. ‘The construction of the real prototype starts in September, but the engine is in the pre-production phase,’ says Nardone. ‘We should be able to reach 400hp, maybe more.’

Another small specialist, Involute, is transforming the original five-speed gearbox into a six-speed. Performance should be more than adequate. ‘To me this car is not about numbers, but about style and comfort as well,’ says Nardone. ‘It must not be compared to a 911 as it is perfectly complementary.’ 

Nardone expects the radical conversion to cost around €480,000, plus the donor car. ‘We don’t want to limit the production,’ he says, adding that the first eight customers will get the ‘launch edition’ – which will have more options at the same price. 

His company, which is based in Aix-en-Provence, hopes to deliver the first customer car in 2024. With Foglizzo leather and Alcantara inserts, along with high-end audio and Apple CarPlay, as well as new driving enhancements like active suspension and variable electric power steering, the 928 by Nardone Automotive, is that rarest of things, a revival that transcends the original.

INFORMATION

For more information, contact Nardone Automotive

nardone-automotive.com

In the wake of the recently launched 2022 Range Rover, an all-new Range Rover Sport appears to cater to those who seek a bit more dynamic scope to their monumental driving machine.

The original Range Rover Sport arrived all the way back in 2005, forging the way for the ‘Range Rover’ name to become a sub-brand in its own right, leaving Land Rover to produce slightly less sybaritic, more action/family orientated vehicles. Range Rover subsequently expanded still further with the introduction of the 2011 Evoque (now in its second generation) and the 2018 Velar.

The original Range Rover Sport was superseded by a second-generation model in 2013, which saw the introduction of hybrid power and performance versions.

This is generation three. Whereas the flagship Range Rover is pushing ever further upmarket and transforming itself into a real competitor for Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Maybach, the Sport’s targets are somewhat faster moving. For now, ultra-performance SUVs are still big sellers – the Aston Martin DBX, Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne, and forthcoming Ferrari Purosangue to name but four.

Crucially, for the most part, these cars rely on traditional engines, not electric powertrains – even hybrid performance SUVs are thin on the ground. The next generation – in the form of the Lotus Eletre and others – is readying itself in the wings.

As a result, the Range Rover Sport is designed to have its cake and eat it. From the outset, there’ll be a plug-in hybrid, a mild hybrid petrol and diesel, as well as a high-performance twin-turbo V8. Come 2024, there’ll be a pure EV as well. Whether this model’s sporting character can be sustained across such a broad range of powertrains remains to be seen.

For now, all we have to go on is the design. In truth, this is more evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Around three-quarters of a million Sports have been built so far, so the formula isn’t due for a shake-up – just yet. The new car shares the same basic proportions as its predecessors, with a relatively shallow glasshouse and steeply raked windscreen (as opposed to the more upright stance of the larger Range Rover). The most obvious visual difference is a general smoothing out of the lines, with a flush glasshouse and door handles, and slimmer lights and grilles at the front. The rear elevation gets the most dramatic overhaul, with a sleeker, more minimal layout that adheres to the company’s much-vaunted ‘modernist philosophy’ of design.

Inside, the dashboard splices screens and buttons to functional effect, with the full raft of Range Rover’s off-road functions still very much present and correct. It’s regularly pointed out that the more luxurious and lifestyle-orientated the company’s designs get, the less likely they are to be ever taken off-road.

Suffice to say, this reality doesn’t seem to have diminished Range Rover’s desire to make its vehicles truly ‘go-anywhere’, and the Sport continues this tradition. The new ‘Adaptive Off-Road Cruise Control’ system, for example, lets you set your speed over practically any type of terrain on the planet and the car will do the rest (as long as you remember to steer). 

The 2023 Range Rover Sport promises to be all things to everyone, in other words. Most usefully, perhaps, is the real-world range of 460 miles that the plug-in hybrid model delivers.

Sporting luxury is all very well, but the ability to travel far and wide will always be a strong selling point.

INFORMATION

New Range Rover Sport, from £79,125

rangerover.com

In partnership with Porsche

When Porsche first told Cyril Lancelin about its new initiative, ‘The Art of Dreams’, the artist was ‘immediately seduced’. His work, after all, explores the curious space that dreams inhabit: between the real and the unreal.

‘The Art of Dreams’ is Porsche’s new global series of interactive art and design installations sited across major metropolises. For each activation, Porsche will commission a creative, ranging from a designer to an artist or an AI programmer, to develop a work under this theme. A further edition is set for Milan, coinciding with the 2022 Salone del Mobile, while another will take place beyond Europe in late 2022, and more are planned.

‘By commissioning immersive artworks that explore the motif of dreams from different conceptual angles over the coming years, Porsche aims to provide inspiration and positive drive to vibrant communities and societies,’ says Robert Ader, CMO of Porsche AG. ‘The brand also wants to signal support to the art and culture scene that was particularly hard hit by the pandemic, which is in line with our strategic approach of being a “partner to society”.’

For its inaugural edition in Paris, coinciding with FIAC 2021, Lancelin has created Remember your dreams. On view from 15 – 24 October, the monumental, monochromatic inflatable installation will envelop viewers in what the artist terms an ‘artificial landscape’.

Lancelin was selected via Porsche's extensive network in the arts and felt like a natural choice from the outset. ‘His surreal, dream-like interventions in the public domain make him the perfect artist to explore the topic of dreams in a way that is sophisticated yet accessible to a wider audience,’ Ader explains.

For the artist and Porsche, public participation is integral to the work. ‘I thought of the work as a 3D mesh in which we fit. I used arches with a tubular section so that the light was diffused and there were no sharp edges. The repetition of this module in three dimensions creates the volume; a place conducive to a kinetic experience.’

Sited on an outdoor terrace between the majestic 18th-century Palais Galliera Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris and its surrounding gardens, Remember your dreams will offer a link between these environments. For Porsche, the destination’s reputation as a hub for fashion, design and creative spirit made it the perfect setting. ‘The classic Parisian palace and the surrounding garden offer different ways of approaching the work. The large installation creates a connection between the site, the audience, and the different moods at different times of the day,’ says Ader. ‘I want the public to browse the work from the inside but also the outside. You also have to take the time to see the sunlight going through the work. It must be understood as a space for research on colour and light. The public must create their own experience,’ Lancelin continues.

Lancelin uses the same processes in his art that he employed in his former career as an architect. ‘I don't draw my sculptures like a designer, I think of them with rules,’ says the artist, who uses 3D modelling software to conceive his ideas. ‘I then imagine the structure in the site and adapt it to align with the views, interactions and particularities of the place.

I like it when you do not know if the photo represents a physical or virtual work, because this border between the two fades more and more.’

Though all his works are born in the digital space, some never leave. Since 2018, Lancelin has also entered the realms of AR and VR, a migration that feels natural to his otherworldly creations, and opens up more possibilities.

Both Porsche and Lancelin believe in the power of art to render apparent impossibilities possible, capture global imaginations, and make dreams attainable. Following a time when in-person art experiences and human interactions have been in short supply, these sentiments carry a new potency. As Lancelin explains, Remember your dreams is ‘a sculpture to be lived’.

INFORMATION

porsche.art

Everrati and Ionic aren’t the only companies in the business of electrifying classic cars. What started out as an extremely niche business is fast becoming a firm fixture in the classic car universe. Whether it’s a simple conversion for an everyday sports car or a full-on rebuild that creates a silent super-luxury machine, here’s our selection of companies dedicated to classic electric restomods – taking old cars into the 21st century and beyond.

Voitures Extravert

Martijn van Dijk’s Voitures Extravert is based in the Netherlands. Not only does the company specialise in adding electric power to the Porsche 911, it’s also an expert at taking a later model of the venerable sports car design, stripping it down and reshaping it as a 1970s-era classic, with period-perfect detail and colours. The process takes around nine months and the company will help you find a suitable donor car. 

From €285,000 
voitures-extravert.com 

Totem Automobili

Totem Automobili has a singular focus on one of the most beautiful car designs of all time, the Bertone-designed Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA. Built from 1965 to 1969, the GTA was a performance-focused version of Alfa’s exceptionally attractive two-door coupé. With a sparkier engine and lightweight aluminium bodywork, the 1960s GTA was an accomplished racing car. Totem’s GT Electric takes the stylistic spirit of the GTA and recreates it with a carbon fibre body and an all-electric drivetrain. The Italian-based company will hand-build each example, and has placed a special emphasis on audio design, using a 13-speaker system to completely recreate the original car’s sound, or something entirely new, should you so desire. Each interior is entirely bespoke, and the company has a partnership with leather specialists Amedeo Testoni for luggage and accessories. The light weight offers a promising range of over 240 miles, with fast-charging as standard. 

Totem GT Electric, price on application 
totemautomobili.com 

Electrogenic 

Another bespoke specialist, Oxford-based company Electrogenic tackles mid-range classics like the Triumph Stag and Morgan 4/4. These sympathetic conversions are both one-offs, and the company has also tackled the Jaguar E-Type, VW Beetle and Van, an early Land Rover and a 1970s-era Rolls-Royce. Swapping engines, fuel tanks and gearboxes for motors and batteries helps retain the original balance, while a modest range of around 150 miles can be achieved with Type 2 charging. The company's most recent conversion is a 1971 Citroën DS, the DS EV electronique, which includes a contemporary update for the car's pioneering hydraulic suspension system.

electrogenic.co.uk 

ECD Automotive Design 

ECD Automotive Design is based in Florida. As well as restoring a wide variety of Range Rovers and Land Rovers, classic and modern, the company is now branching out into electrification. Its first zero-emission models include a first generation Range Rover, complete with Tesla drivetrain and total bare metal restoration, and an all-electric Defender. The latter has an estimated range of 220 miles using a Tesla power plant and batteries, and a frankly alarming zero-to-60 time of 5.5 seconds. 

ECD Defender, price on request 
ecdautodesign.com 

Opel Manta GSe Elektromod

A one-off design study by Opel to celebrate 50 years of its classic Manta design. The GSe Elektromod provides a visual bridge between Vauxhall/Opel’s new design language and the pioneering forms it was creating back in the 1970s. The Manta GSe is a traditional ‘restomod’, in the sense that the original car has been preserved with light styling tweaks, and the new electric motor has been designed to shift through the original gearbox. The front end has been replaced by a digital screen alongside the headlights and the car has a modest range of 124 miles. 

Opel Manta GSe Elektromod, concept only 
opel.de 

Watt Electric Vehicle Company 

Watt Electric Vehicle Company is launching its business with a design that’s been a familiar part of the traditional restomod scene for decades, Porsche’s 356. The WEV Coupé combines the timeless elegance of the 356 with all-new electric underpinnings. This proprietary bit of tech is Watt’s Passenger And Commercial EV Skateboard (PACES), and the Cornish company hopes it’ll underpin vans and other vehicles in due course. Right now, the WEV Coupé will be the technology showcase, with 21 examples of this compact, stylish sportscar offered from early 2022. 

WEV Coupé, from £81,250 
wattelectricvehicles.com AC Cars 

AC Cars 

AC Cars has a long history and a complicated heritage – official and unofficial versions of its standout 1960s classic, the AC Cobra, continue to proliferate. The original company is staking its claim to the name with the Classic Electric Cobra Series 1, a zero-emissions version of the classic that promises to deliver the same blistering performance wrapped up in a familiar body shell. A litmus test for whether engine sound is an important component of a classic. 

accars.eu 

RBW Classic Electric Cars

RBW transforms the ubiquitous MGB into a zippy and ultra-compact EV. Available in both Roadster and closed GT, the emphasis is not on speed or dynamics, but on silent, refined motoring with high levels of luxury in a compact and familiar package. The company is also working on an electric version of the classic Jaguar E-Type. 

MGB Roadster, from approx £90,000 
rbwevcars.com 

Garage Italia 

Garage Italia customises a wide range of classic and modern Italian machinery. Co-founded by Fiat scion Lapo Elkann, the Milanese firm is as adept at respraying the latest Ferrari as it is at giving fresh life to a more prosaic classic. That’s the case in point with the Fiat Panda 4 x 4, one of Giugiaro’s most celebrated mass production designs. The company is creating five examples of the Icon-e Panda in five different themes, including collaborations with tailors Vitale Barberis Canonico and fashion designer Marta Ferri. 

Fiat Panda 4 x 4 Icon-e 
garage-italia.com 

Lunaz

Lunaz hit the headlines earlier this summer when it was announced that David Beckham had taken a stake in the company. Based in Silverstone, Lunaz pitched itself at the high end of the market from the outset, with an electrified Rolls-Royce Phantom, a 1950s-era Bentley and an overhauled Series 1 Range Rover in its line-up. This can be focused either on a more traditional ‘Country’ role, with an agile four-wheel drive system, or as a luxurious ‘Town’ model. 

Range Rover Classic, from £245,000 
lunaz.design 

eClassics

This Volkswagen-sanctioned transformation of the classic Beetle convertible is undertaken by German company eClassics. The e-Käfer convertible uses the drivetrain from VW’s modern e-up! electric city car, with all the other components completely overhauled. The company can also electrify the VW bus of your choice. 

eClassics e-Käfer convertible, from €154,900 
e-classics.eu 

Renault 4 e-Plein Air 

This collaboration between Renault Classic and Renault Design was a one-off celebration of the open-topped Renault 4 conversion favoured by the French beach set in the 1960s and 1970s. A direct competitor to Citroen’s equally cult-like Mehari, the original Plein Air was introduced in 1968 as a holiday runaround, with doors and roof removed and replaced with canvas. The e-Plein Air is an electric restomod, and incorporates the running gear from Renault’s dimunitive modern Twizy quadricycle.  

Renault Classic
en.renaultclassic.com 

Hemmels

The Hemmels Electric Pagoda takes one of Mercedes-Benz’s finest creations – the 280SL, built between 1963 and 1971. The W113 Series was a huge success back in the day, particularly in the US market, and some 50,000 examples were sold. Still a popular classic, Hemmels believes it can bring the clean-lined open-topped car bang up to date, with a full restoration and a bespoke electric drivetrain. The Electric Pagoda is now in Series III production, after the first two issues quickly sold out. 

Hemmels Electric Pagoda, from $239,000 
hemmels.com

Icon 4x4

Jonathan Ward’s Icon has been creating painstakingly meticulous updates of classic 4x4 models for two decades, supplying his glorious hand-built creations to the tech and entertainment set up and down the Californian coast. Icon also runs a ‘Derelict’ line, a service that underpins well-patinated classics with thoroughly modern running gear. In recent years these have run to unexpected electric conversions; our favourite is this 1966 Fiat Giardiniera.

Icon Derelicts, price on request 
icon4x4.com 

Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero

One of the original retro electric conversions, Jaguar’s E-Type Zero was revealed in 2017 and garnered major publicity when it was used as the going away car at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Wessex, a neat marketing coup that sadly didn’t translate into any sales, as the project was eventually canned. Aston Martin has also dabbled in the re-fitting game, with an EV version of its 1960s-era DB6 developed a few years ago. If you still want an electric E-Type, then you’ll have go down the non-official routes. 

Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero, concept only 
jaguar.co.uk 

Zero Labs

Californian company Zero Labs was set up in 2015 to sate the demand for rivet-perfect restorations of compact, early SUVs like the first generation Ford Bronco, and the Series III Land Rover. By slotting batteries into these utilitarian classics, Zero Labs is one of the many niche stories in California’s rich history of electric motoring. Interiors are subtly upgraded in a minimal modernist style and the company can even finish the entire car in carbon fibre if that’s your bag. Its special projects division will tackle any vehicle of your choice, at a price. 

Bronco, from $225,000 
zerolabs.com 

Charge Cars

Charge is making a bold statement with its electrified Ford Mustang, one of the original muscle cars and a machine usually associated with all the sound and bluster of a traditional V8 engine. The company has big ambitions to build 499 examples of this all-American hero, with a 200-mile range (not far off the original thirsty petrol models) and upgraded user interfaces.

Ford Mustang Electric, from £300,000 
charge.cars

The steep value curve of classic cars – even the most seemingly mundane example – suggests that by the time petrol is seriously scarce, most machines that still run it will be almost too valuable to use on a daily basis.

Justin Lunny runs Everrati, formerly Ionic, a specialist UK engineering firm based in the Cotswolds. After selling his Fintech firm Lunny was casting around for a business that combined automotive and technology. ‘When I saw Jaguar’s electric E-Type being used at Harry and Meghan’s wedding, I realised there was something there,’ he says. ‘Very few companies are doing this in the right way.’ 

The future is electric

And so Everatti was born, a company designed to take much-loved existing classics and transform them into sporty EVs for everyday use far, far into the future. From the outset, Lunny and his team realised that this was a high-end proposition. Instead of simply ‘splicing existing EV parts’ into a classic car with ‘dubious engineering,’ an Everrati is designed from the ground up. ‘Our intention is to take a vehicle and subtly transform it from a combustion engine to an EV,’ he says, ‘we’re essentially completely re-engineering them. We 3D scan the vehicle to assess where the weight of the batteries should be placed. Then we custom design the new parts to fit into the areas where engine, fuel tank, etc., would have been.’ 

Everrati’s flagship is currently a complete transformation of Porsche’s 964-series 911, a car that was originally built between 1989 and 1994. Over 63,000 were built and there are plenty of owners, old and new, who like the idea of giving their car a new lease of life. ‘With the Porsche, we can put a lot of power into it because we know the car can take it,’ Lunny explains, ‘for the Land-Rover and Mercedes models we do, the performance is much sedate.’ Any electric vehicle, whether new or retro-fitted, has to balance the equation of weight, range and performance, and Everrati is no different. 

Effectively, the company is offering a restoration service with a difference. ‘It’s about keeping the original feel of the cars as much as possible,’ Lunny says, ‘the interiors are just as important as the rest of the car. We strip everything back to the chassis and recondition it. The Porsche actually ends up lighter than the original car because we use carbon fibre panels.’ The process also includes upgrading suspension where needed, as well as adding regenerative braking to charge the battery kinetically. ‘Our customers determine whether a car has cachet or value and these judgements depend on their age. In a way, it’s easier to do these changes to an older car but we’re set up to deal with more modern vehicles as well.’ 

While Everrati stresses it can tackle practically anything, the systems for adapting the Porsche and the Land-Rover have been fully productionised. ‘Then it’s down to customer specification, and whether they want specific trim changes for example.’ Asked if his firm would transform a particularly rare car, Lunny is evasive. ‘If it was a very low mileage important car, we probably wouldn’t take on the job. You have to ask, does the end result justify the price?’ Some customers have asked for the oily innards of the original car to be preserved as an objet d’art, acknowledging that such engineering is often be extremely beautiful. 

The company has also announced a new partnership with Superformance, a manufacturer of continuation models of Ford’s 1960s era super sports car, the GT40. Development is underway for an electrified version of this iconic model, which both companies acknowledge as a nod to the Anglo American partnership that developed the original GT40 back in the 1960s. 

The switch to electric mobility has many upsides, but a vocal minority of enthusiasts are finding the inevitable slow death of the internal combustion engine hard to take. With well over a century of automotive history seemingly condemned to a long, lingering extinction, is there any hope for the traditional classic car? Outside of museums, concours events and car shows, companies like Everatti are providing a second life for totemic designs that might overwise vanish from our roads.  Although Lunny stresses that the whole process is reversible, he believes his approach ensures older cars stay relevant, used and well-loved. ‘It appeals to those people who might not have owned a classic before and who don’t want the hassle of breakdowns and servicing,’ he says. ‘Countries like France are looking into the benefits of doing this to older mass-market cars, so I think the process will definitely come down in cost.’ For now, Everrati’s Porsche, Land-Rover and Mercedes convertible, are a fascinating alternative to the mainstream.

INFORMATION

Porsche (964) 911, from £250,000

everrati.com

Daniel Arsham loves cars. He also likes eroding stuff. It’s this alluring (yet apocalyptic) combination that gives his latest show, ‘Turning Wrenches’ at Library Street Collective in Detroit, so much fuel. 

Arsham has produced intensely detailed 1:3 scale replicas of supercars and other automotive artefacts as a tribute to the Detroit automotive industry and global car culture. There are also homages to the film industry, where the choice of a character’s vehicle is often an extension of their personality.

The miniature Mustang in the exhibition is a scale replica of the 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove during the gripping car chase in the film Bullitt. Elsewhere, a Ferrari references the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and a bronze iteration of a DMC DeLorean (the famed time machine in 1985 sci-fi film Back to the Future) take things up a gear. 

The Delorean also speaks to the role of time in Arsham’s work, which nods to a simultaneous past and future. When a car begins to erode, it’s usually an indication of a one-way trip to the scrap heap. And while industrial objects inevitably fall victim to time, Arsham’s approach to decay offers his cars new life, with strategically placed erosions erupting with dazzling masses of crystals.

This show, staged in Library Street Collective’s Snarkitecture-designed space, is an ode to the laborious and culturally rich automobile trade, appetising eye candy for petrolheads, and an exploration of how the fragility of man-made objects can collide with the tenacity of geological material. 

Daniel Arsham on the drive behind his new turbo-charged show

Wallpaper*: What is so exciting about cars, and car culture, and when did this fascination begin?

Daniel Arsham: I’ve had a fascination with cars in general since I was a kid. Cars, to me, have always had an ability to create a sense of time travel. You can get into a perfectly restored car from the 1970s or 1990s, and there’s a very visceral sense of what it felt like to drive in those eras.

I was also drawn to Porschefrom an early age, which led to me eventually purchasing and restoring a 1986 Porsche 911 Turbo. A replica of the restored Porsche, re-interpreted as a 930A, is featured in the exhibition at Library Street Collective as a 1:3 scale replica.

W*: How did you decide which car models to base these sculptures on? 

DA: All of the sculptures on view at Library Street Collective are based on iconic car models. For example, the Ferrari is the car most famously used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and the DMC DeLorean is famous in its own right for its use in Back to the Future. All of these cars are part of automobile history but also cinematic history. 

The star of the show is the 1968 Ford Mustang GT from Steve McQueen’s movie Bullitt. I worked with the film’s prop master to create a one-to-one scaled model. The final eroded version consists of volcanic ash, pyrite crystal, and white quartz. 

There is also the connection to the history of Detroit, which is inextricably linked to automotive design. John DeLorean was an American car executive who, after leaving General Motors, formed his own company, the DeLorean Motor Company. We also included the Ford Mustang, a Detroit icon introduced in 1964 that revolutionised American cars.

W*: What was the most challenging part of creating this new series?

DA: The most complex piece in the exhibition is the cast of the Ferrari. It’s composed of 35 pieces that all had to be cast individually and then assembled together. Any time you make an object that has an interior and exterior, it becomes much more complex. 

W*: You're a passionate car collector. If you had to choose one car in your collection, which would it be and why?

DA: If I had to choose one car, it would be the 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS. It’s a legendary car and one I was able to acquire a year and a half ago. It’s truly a ‘supercar’ from that era – it had the largest engine at the time, and driving it is an incredible, visceral experience. It’s also not as insular as modern cars, so you sense every turn, every aspect of the engine, and the transfer of power from the engine to the road.

INFORMATION
Daniel Arsham: ‘Turning Wrenches’, until 7 August 2021, Library Street Collective, Detroit, lscgallery.com
danielarsham.com

ADDRESS

1274 Library St
Detroit, MI 48226

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