Story and Photos by Jonathan Haggar
Porsche was represented for the first time at South by Southwest (SXSW) – the Austin-based festival of technology and culture. Porsche Newsroom reports that a three year cooperation agreement was signed with the German automaker. Porsche Unseen provided a glimpse into the Porsche design department with a multi-day exhibit at 400 Congress Avenue. The indoor venue was set up like a giant designer’s desk complete with oversized props and vehicles as the main characters.
The full-sized prototypes were on display to the public for the first time ever. While followers have likely seen images over the past year, this was the first opportunity to be in the same room, to be close enough to touch them. In addition to the well done and playful display, a few Porsche design personnel were on hand from Germany to provide a more personal view of the design and innovation process.
Unseen Cars
Porsche Head of Advanced Design Ingo Scheinhutte spoke to the audience while moving between some of the prototypes on the floor. As leader of a team responsible for designing the next generation of Porsche vehicles, he explained that the Vision Turismo prototype from 2012 is the project that eventually became the Taycan, after first evolving into Mission E. While still looking modern today, this car incorporates some previous generation design language. Traditional Porsche headlights are round and this prototype features the more triangular shape first seen on Boxster and Cayman models. Wanting something different to distinguish the electric Taycan, the team developed the unique shape seen today on the production model.
Despite being a full-sized prototype, Scheinhutte revealed that it was developed as a virtual race car, and is available exclusively in Gran Turismo 7 – a sim racing game for the Playstation platform. Wanting to ensure the virtual car maintained realistic characteristics and handling, the design team consulted with road car engineers and developers.
Over the years, Porsche has maintained a connection between street and track. Inspired by the 550 Spyder from 1954, the two-seat Vision Spyder represents an everyday sports car – one that can be driven to the track, raced, and then driven home. This study was intended to provide a pool of ideas for future details, including an ultra-modern roll bar. We can’t help but wonder if any will make their way into the recently announced electric-only 718 lineup slated for 2025.
The lightweight and minimalist Porsche Carrera GTS (904) is perhaps one of the most beautiful designs of all time. The 904 Living Legend concept recreates the smooth flowing lines of the original in an attractively modern way. While this prototype from 2013 never progressed to production, many of its styling elements and forms did.
Unseen Innovations
Christophe Acker is the Project Lead for Innovation Strategy at Porsche. His organization’s role is to work on the future by imagining and dreaming of new things, and then finding ways to make this new stuff work. Acker sees roughly 1000 innovation ideas per year and the challenge is selecting the right projects to move forward and develop. Acknowledging and accepting that some ideas just won’t work out is part of the process. Acker shared some projects that are currently in the pipeline.
Those who own convertibles know that wind and road noise make it difficult to use hands-free voice features, whether it be making voice commands or carrying on a phone conversation. The team is looking to use cameras and artificial intelligence to analyze lip movement and improve speech quality. Another project involves video gaming content aimed at young rear seat occupants. Acker used the example of the viewer flying through space where the motion and direction of the virtual spaceship correlate to the motion and dynamics of the vehicle.
Have you ever used a driving simulation and wished you could drive the roads around your home, or perhaps your favorite twisty weekend route? Porsche is doing just that with the Virtual Roads project. It utilizes your smartphone to digitize a route, up to 8 km long, while you drive. A virtual road is then created for you to drive in a digital environment, also allowing you to drive several different Porsche cars.
The innovation team also developed a new panoramic roof with light control technology, available on the Taycan GTS. The glass contains a film with liquid crystals that react to electricity and change the level of shading. The surface is made up of nine sections that can be individually controlled.
Acker concluded this session by reminding us of the statement of Ferdinand Porsche – “I couldn’t find the sportscar of my dreams, so I built it myself”. This message is still very much a part of the company vision. With a unique and tasteful exhibit, Porsche seemed perfectly fitting at SXSW – and we look forward to their return next year.
