Mystery Widebody Porsche 718 Test Mule Makes Another Appearance

Not long after our first sighting of a strange new Porsche 718 Cayman testing in Europe and our spy photographers have captured the test mule again with its odd but exciting bodywork out in the open. One thing to add to our bucket of clues is that our spies say it had a lot of measuring instruments as well as GT3 RS seats inside. [Updated 5/29/2021]

Of course, the most attention-grabbing thing in the picture is the foam around the wheels and under the car. These have been seen in the past on other Porsche test cars and tend to be used for gap validation purposes.

Over them, though, are big, wide fender flares that can barely contain the car’s tires. That suggests that this Cayman has a meaningfully widened track width.

All of which leads us to wonder what this mule is. We’ve previously a Cayman GT4 RS testing, though it did not have this car’s wide fenders. It also had carbon-ceramic brakes, center-lock wheels, and a great big fixed wing, none of which this car has. It’s not impossible that Porsche is testing GT4 RS parts separately to keep us from figuring out what’s going on, but we are curious if something else is going on here.

Could this be the next-gen Cayman? The current generation has been around since 2016, making the next year or two a pretty reasonable timeline for a new model. Still, the extent to which the trackwidth is extended does give us pause. The Cayman’s charm has always been in its small, manageable size.

As for the Volkswagen Group’s favorite new buzzword (electrification), the bug-splattered grilles upfront, and the lack of warnings indicating that this is an EV test vehicle leave little to go on for that idea. This being Porsche, it could also be a race car of some description.

The final idea we’ve heard is that the Cayman body could be a red herring. Let’s all get into conspiracy theory mode for a moment, and consider reports from 2016 that suggested that Porsche was looking for a mid-engine supercar to slot between the 911 and the 918.

Trademarks discovered at the time showed that Porsche was interested in the name “960.” Press contacts, meanwhile, kept telling people that “There’s not been much on the topic of new models but, if you look, there are blank spots in our range – and you have to look at what the competition is doing and keep these things in mind.” Very curious indeed.

Rumors indicated at the time that it would be powered by a mid-mounted flat-six, which we know the chassis to be capable of accommodating and would compete against the likes of the McLaren 650S and the Lamborghini Huracan.

Whatever’s going on here, we’re excited to find out more. We’ll keep a close eye out for more information when it becomes available.