On June 8, 1948, the first Porsche to receive road approval was a 356 "No.1" Roadster. Fast forward 75 years, and the peeps from Zuffenhausen will celebrate the anniversary with a special one-hour event that will be live-streamed for the whole world to see. It'll be broadcasted in English and German at 9:40 PM CEST (7:40 PM GMT / 3:40 PM ET) and will consist of five different acts: Heritage, Zeitgeist, Performance, Pioneering Spirit, and Dreams.
The festivities will include everything from music, lights, and choreography to past and current models. More importantly, Porsche "will offer a look forward to its vision of the sports car of the future." That's not much to go by at this point but the company is unlikely referring to the long-rumored 911 ST as that one will be a celebration of the past with a modern twist. For what it’s worth, the use of the word "Vision" suggests it will be a concept rather than a production model.
Gallery: Porsche Vision 357 Concept
There have been quite a few Vision-badged Porsche concepts in recent years. What could the new one be? There are several plausible scenarios, and all of them involve electrification. We might get an early look at the all-electric 718 sports car coming in 2025 or a first taste of the already confirmed hybrid 911. We're going to exclude the all-electric, third-generation Cayenne as well as the three-row SUV – both of which were announced recently.
Of course, the most alluring assumption one can make is a hypercar to supersede the 918 Spyder. Before you get too excited, Porsche has said a new flagship won't come out anytime soon as battery technology needs to evolve first. Michael Steiner, an executive board member of Porsche's R&D, said the new battery pack is currently being developed with the Cellforce Group subsidiary company and will be presented within the next two years. Future models will eventually get the new battery pack, but more work will be necessary to better suit a hypercar.
With Porsche planning to show a concept instead of a production-ready model, could we be getting a preview of a new hypercar? We'll find out on June 8, so a week from Thursday.