Nearly 75 years after the very first Porsche 356 No. 1 Roadster received its general operating permit, the brand is celebrating by looking both ahead and behind. To do so, it’s created the Vision 357, a stunning and sleek modern interpretation of the 356 that sits atop a modern 718 Cayman GT4 RS platform and which answers the question what would the dream of a sports car of Ferry Porsche might look like today.
To put it very lightly, the 356 was a smashing success to the point that Porsche had built roughly 78,000 units by 1965. It put the brand on the map and clearly continues to be a source of inspiration all these years later. That’s plainly seen in the Porsche Vision 357 concept.
“We created a very special birthday present in the form of the Porsche Vision 357, one which uses the 356 as a basis to underscore the significance of our design DNA,” said Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche.
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“The concept car is an attempt to combine the past, present and future with coherency, featuring proportions that are reminiscent of its historical archetype and details that visualize the outlook for the future,” he continued.
Similarly to the 356, the Vision 357 features a wrap-around windscreen and adds black a-pillars to unite the window surfaces. The grille pattern in the rear of the car and the round headlights at the front both nod to the 356 too. Porsche sprinkled in lots of modern touches too though.
The door openers are concealed by the side windows. The headlights feature the modern Porsche four-point light signet of production models. And 20-inch magnesium wheels sit at each corner reducing weight while providing far more rigidity than the original wheels of a 356 could ever hope to.
It’s a lot more powerful than the 356 as well thanks to the same 4.0-liter six-cylinder engine that you’ll find in the 718 Cayman GT4 RS and which produces 493 hp (368 kW / 500 PS) and 331 lb-ft (449 Nm) of torque, revving all the way up to 9,000 rpm. Porsche integrated intakes on each side of the car just behind the side windows and natural fiber-reinforced plastic (NFRP), the same as you’ll find on the Mission R is used for the side sills.
The car is on display starting today, January 25th, at VW Group’s DRIVE forum in Berlin. In fact, it’s the highlight of a special exhibition called 75 Years of Porsche sports cars.” Notably, this is an exterior design study only, at least for now. What that means is that there’s no corresponding interior and no public plan to build anything like it for production. That’s a shame too because we bet they’d sell like hotcakes.
