Porsche Vision 357: Why looking to the past is important for the German brand's future

Porsche has given itself a birthday present, but there’s a lot more to the Vision 357 than just a celebration of the brand’s 75th anniversary of building sports cars.

The Vision 357 is the latest concept car from the Style Porsche department, taking inspiration from the brand’s original sports car - the now-iconic 356 - but underpinned by the latest 718 Cayman GT4 RS powertrain.

The idea behind the car was to imagine what the 356 could have evolved into if Porsche were to add to its current sports car line-up of 911 and 718. However, according to Michael Mauer, vice president of Style Porsche, there are no plans to put the Vision 357 into production.

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So why create such an elaborate birthday gift for no production gain? Well, according to Mauer, it’s vital for the Style Porsche team to work on such projects to keep their creativity and motivation up. Porsche has produced countless ‘Vision’ concepts and famously released dozens of previously unreleased concept cars as part of its ‘Porsche Unseen’ project in late 2020.

“Thinking out loud about the future is one of the core missions of Style Porsche,” Mauer explained. “Concept studies are the pool of ideas that feed the design of tomorrow. We are perpetually on the conceptual journey into the future of mobility. Time and again, the brand’s history serves as a source of inspiration.

The Vision 357 is the latest concept car from the Style Porsche department.

"Taking a look back at our tradition with a future concept car is not as paradoxical as it might seem. Creative freedom is also important: this is where valuable ideas can emerge unfettered, ones that help us imagine our consistent design philosophy in innovative new directions.”  

For the Vision 357 the Style Porsche designers have tried to create a more compact modern sports car and give it a unique look when lined-up against the 911 and 718 Cayman. To that end there’s a narrow cabin with a windscreen that appears to wrap around the front pillars, which are painted black to create the impression the windows are connected. This design is also meant to resemble a racing driver’s helmet visor. 

At the rear there is a more abrupt sloping roofline when compared to the 911 but wide rear fenders to house the broad tyres and package up the 718 Cayman GT4 RS’s 4.0-litre six-cylinder engine.

Porsche revealed the Vision 357 to the public at the Volkswagen Group’s “DRIVE” Forum in Berlin.

In another nod to the past - and the Style Porsche’s other concepts - the Vision 357 has been pictured on a trailer being towed by the Vision Renndienst, the electric van concept that first appeared in 2018. The Renndienst was a tribute to the Volkswagen Kombi vans the company used in its earliest days to transport racing versions of the 356 and other early Porsches.

Porsche revealed the Vision 357 to the public at the Volkswagen Group’s “DRIVE” Forum in Berlin. It will be on display there until the middle of February before appearing at other events throughout this 75th anniversary year for the brand.