Porsche Vision E, 918 RS Tease The Electrified Future That Never Was

Electrification is going to be a major part of Porsche's future both on the road with the Taycan and on the track with the brand's Formula E entry. Amid the company's info dump about previously unannounced concepts, we got to see a pair of concepts from 2019 that could have brought even more electrified powertrains to the company's lineup.

The Porsche Vision E concept was supposed to capitalize on the marketing opportunity from the brand's Formula E entry to create an electric, track-only hypercar. The vehicle made it to the 1:1 hard model development stage.

Like the Formula E car, the Vision E is a single-seater but with a fully enclosed cockpit in this case. The design features a semi-open-wheel layout that exposes as much of the mechanical parts as possible while retaining small portions of bodywork that attaches the fenders to the body.

While the Vision E is a clean-sheet design looking towards the future, the Porsche Vision 918 RS takes the brand's last supercar and sharpens it as much as possible. In 2019, the concept got to the 1:1 hard model development stage.

The design team took the bones of the 918 Spyder and installed an aerodynamically optimized body, in addition to enhanced drive and chassis technology. In comparison to the original, the RS has a lower nose with a large duct near the base of the windshield. The opening in the front fascia is quite a bit bigger, too, and there's a prominent splitter. There are now skinny, vertically oriented headlights on the fenders.

The doors feature a complex shape where they connect to the rear fenders, and there are prominent side sills. The rear fenders have vertical fins that evoke similar pieces from some Porsche 917 racecars. Between the fenders, the roof dips steeply downward, which appears to be for directing air to the rear wing and massive diffuser.