Porsche '356' vision

[KS]

Pleased to say the newly-appointed head of design at Volkswagen is my friend Andreas Mindt, moved across from Bentley, having previously been with VW and then Audi, to inject some life back into the brand. What's great is that Andreas is a solid VW enthusiast, who used to come to Santa Pod to attend the VW events there, and is also an early 911 owner who favours hot-rods to restos.

A couple of years ago, out of the blue he sent me this cartoon he did of my old car. This is the kind of person we need in charge of design – not some airhead who has no real idea what makes a car special, what gives it soul.

[Winston Teague]

My first sight was via the ddk FB feed, a front 3/4.....and my immediate reaction was 26R Elan 'restomod' ......a thing that in itself would be wrong......

[sisu]

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Europe has talent. No European IBM, Microsoft, intel, amazon, Facebook, Netflix, e-bay, paypal though. Early Tesla assembly Hethel, Norfolk before production moved across the Atlantic...

Odd you chose Tesla in Hethel as the poster boy of automotive success and random tech companies in the US of questionable success at the moment. Hethel made just 1400 Teslas for European consumption from 2008-12. The roadster used panels from Sotira in *gasp* France and once the 2500 orders were completed it was phased out. But Tesla is a Californian/Texas company, now with a battery factory outside of Berlin making 2000 cars a week. Not in Hethel.

I am more proud of Valmet who produced the 986 boxster and Cayman here in Finland. Why? Because it saved Porsche 20 years ago and until the SUV this was the most profitable Porsche they had.


It is an interesting observation on this concept as its just a rendering, Porsche have made some ugly cars in the past and they have sold well regardless, like the Boxster, Panamera, 914, Cayenne etc.
This isn't a new thing either, punters still have a religious divide over long hood 911s and G Body 911s.

[sladey]

It’s not just a rendering. Top gear have a video looking round the “show” car (no interior)

[hashman]

And the predecessor of the 357, a 356 is a very pretty car from every angle.......

Karl