Porsche Mission R hints at electric 2022 Cayman

Porsche’s IAA Munich show highlight Mission R concept might wear an aggressive track-focused façade, but the hot two-door actually hides details that will emerge in the next-generation Cayman and Boxster road cars.

The fourth-generation of Porsche’s baby sports hero is widely reported to make the switch to electrification in its next incarnation, aligning with the technological showcase presented by the Mission R – but its aesthetics and platform is also offering a glimpse of what to expect.

Speaking at the reveal of the mighty 800kW racer, Porsche AG CEO Oliver Blume explained no Porsche concept is ever a simple design folly and the car would evolve into something less transient.

“All design studies we present will come more or less through in future,” he said. “Remember the 918 or the Mission E? Here (Mission R) we have the same commitment and elements or parts of the car will come true.”

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While the all-wheel drive monster might still break light as the centrepiece of a single-make racing series, Blume said the Mission R will certainly lend parts to a future electric production car.

“The first idea was to create a vision for future sustainable motorsport. We could have the opportunity to create our own Porsche series with this car, but we have also used elements you will find in future Porsche electric cars – on the design side but also the technology side. It’s more than a study.

“We use it to test like a concept car, and then also to think what could be feasible for series production as well.”

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More insight was offered into the eventual evolution into the next Cayman by Porsche GT racing vehicles project manager Matthias Scholz who tantalisingly hinted:

“Normally we would take the street legal car and then convert it to the race car, but at the moment we do not have the street legal car so we will see. If you look at Cayman in the future…”

Furthermore, Porsche customer motorsports spokesperson Holger Eckhardt added additional weight to the theory that a production version resulting from the concept would indeed take the form of the Cayman. At this stage, a production Mission R racer is chalked in about four to five years’ time – but the Cayman is expected next year.

“If we tell you that we are thinking about 2025 – 2026 (for Mission R production), there must be something new before,” he said.

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Scholz ruled out using Porsche and Audi’s current EV platforms, something which again is concurrent with the plans for an electric Cayman – which is understood to arrive rolling on its own new platform, for the electric version at least.

“It’s not J1 and it’s not PPE,” confirmed Scholz. “When we electrify a model we won’t do a carryover of the combustion engine because there are too many compromises. When we are looking to future sports cars we would develop its own platform but connected with some modules coming from other cars. It will be unique.”