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Porsche unveiled its Mission X concept car last week, an idea of what a future Porsche electric supercar might look like. And while it’s stunning from afar, but also on paper with the few stats Porsche would share, it’s packed with fun details. Porsche designers took us through them and we’ve highlighted some of the coolest features for your perusal.
It has an animal mascot
Tucked away in front of the rear wheels are decals of a cheetah in full sprint. It’s sort of an unofficial mascot for the car, chosen because it’s fast and light, like Porsche wants the Mission X to be. It is also the continuation of a small tradition that has sprung up among Porsche designers to add animals to their designs. The Vision 357 concept has a dinosaur to indicate it’s sort of the last of its kind; inspired by old models and still runs on a combustion engine. And the Mission R concept included a wild boar, perhaps because it’s a wild racing machine.
There is motorsport inspiration everywhere
The overall shape of the Mission X certainly has some similarities to Porsche race cars, both new and old, but it goes deeper than that with little details everywhere. For example, the headlights look more vertical, similar to prototype race cars and hypercars. There’s an extra piece of glass above the windshield that Porsche calls the “Daytona” window, a throwback to a version of the 917 modified with the same type of visibility aid. In front of the passenger is a screen and an analog clock that is used for timing (and can be removed from the car), much like rally cars.
The driver has remarkable control over the brakes
One of the mysterious features of the Mission X at its unveiling was the paddles on the steering wheel. Usually that is to change gears, and most electric cars only have one gear. That is not a hard and fast rule, the Porsche Taycan actually has two gears. But it seemed unlikely that the paddles were for changing gears. That turns out to be true. The paddles on the left, like many electric cars, control the power of the regenerative braking. So what about the paddles on the right? She Also control the braking, but they adjust the brake balance of the front and rear physical brakes.
It’s ready for your racing gear
The Mission X is not a straight race car. The Porsche designers even noted that the metallic gray color was chosen in part to evoke more of a luxury sports car than a racing car. But that doesn’t mean it’s not ready for track use. The designers noted that the buttons for things like climate control on the side of the infotainment screen are large enough to be easy to use with racing gloves on. The seats are actually more sets of pads taped to the back of the cabin. Not only can they be swapped out for custom pieces that fit snugly to the rider’s body, but the head section can be omitted altogether to make room for your head when wearing a helmet.
There’s a reason it’s mid-engined, despite the lack of an engine
The Mission X has a fairly classic mid-engine shape and proportions. That’s interesting because because it’s electric, there’s no motor in the middle. But it turns out that Porsche placed the batteries behind the occupants. Now we don’t know the exact shape, size and layout of the battery pack, so it’s possible there’s some other stuff and maybe even cargo space between the back of the car and the battery pack, but that does contribute somewhat to the shape of the car. Of course, there’s also the fact that the shape is classic and looks great.
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