718 Cayman

Make
Porsche
Segment
Coupe

When Porsche revealed the Mission R electric race car concept, it was pretty clear that this is what an electric Porsche 718 Cayman would look like. Porsche said as much shortly thereafter, and a later interview with Autocar revealed that we could expect a mid-engine feel from the future electric 718 twins. Now Dr. Frank Walliser, the head of Porsche's sports cars division, has spoken to Road & Track, revealing that the concept is not very far off from what a production 718 EV could be like. Obviously, there are aspects of the car that would need to be toned down on the production version, but these are surprisingly few and far between.

Although not directly involved with the development of this concept, Dr. Walliser is beaming with pride at the way it came out. "Just look at it," he says. "But this is not that futuristic. A car can look like this. It's driving, it can go on the race track already. There is proof it can work. Maybe we could not afford one thing or the other, or it's difficult to get it into series production. But in general, it's not so visionary that you would say, 'this could never happen.'" Thus, if the Mission R can feel mid-engined, then why can't other EVs feel like other traditional engine layouts?

Walliser believes that there are ways to make future EVs feel unique: "We have different designs, different motors. We might have one, two, three, or four motors in the car." This sort of thing will help differentiate cars by the way they behave, just as a flat-six hanging out the back of a 911 feels altogether different to the way a V8 does on the front axle of a Cayenne, for example. So future Porsche EVs will certainly feel unique, just as the current ones do.

And speaking of the current models, Porsche's work on sustainable fuel that draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere before being turned into synthetic liquid hydrocarbons that can be burned in traditional internal combustion engines is gaining momentum. This could keep older Porsches on the road for longer, meaning that we'll get to enjoy the best of today while also taking in a unique feel from the cars of tomorrow.