Porsche's Mission S: a mid-engine flagship that's here to stay, and your phone is the dash

Porsche dropped the Mission S on Thursday on a pier in Queens, New York: the exact pier where the 550 Spyder got its picture taken back in 1953. Nice touch. It's a concept (a "vision model", in Porsche-speak), but the plan behind it is the real headline: a mid-engined super sports car above the 911, "not as a one-off hypercar, but as a permanent and versatile addition".

Read that again. Porsche's top dog has always been a limited run: the 959, the Carrera GT, the 918. This one is meant to stick around.

What they showed

• The layout: mid-engine, sitting above the 911
• The greatest hits: 911 round lights and torpedo fenders, G-model shut lines, a GT1 nose and car-in-car rear, a 959 roofline, a 917-style cooling fan, 928 "dial" wheels
• Inside: no centre screen. No passenger screen. A pop-out MagSafe holder, and your phone IS the screen
• Gauges: five round dials, and the analogue rev needle slides closer to you in the sportier modes
• Colours: Firn White Metallic, Light Red Metallic, Black Chrome
• Engine, power, price, date: nada

What I love

A flagship you'll actually see. A permanent model means real cars on real roads, not a few hundred of them hiding in climate-controlled garages.

Your phone as the screen. Every car screen looks ancient in five years. Your phone doesn't, because you replace it. Smartest interior idea I've seen in a while.

You'd clock it from across the parking lot. Porsche's CEO: "A Porsche must be recognisable as a Porsche at first glance." Yeah. Nailed it.

What's bugging me

1. Not one word about the engine. People read the gauges as an 8,000 rpm redline, and flat-eight hybrid rumours are flying. Porsche confirmed none of it. Come on.
2. It's a greatest-hits album. Half a dozen classic Porsches in one car. Every nod is gorgeous; all together it risks feeling like a tribute band instead of a new song.
3. Dead phone, no nav. Genius right up until your battery's at 2%, or your phone doesn't do MagSafe.
4. The price is going to hurt. Above the 911 means above the Turbo S. No number yet, but this is shopping in Ferrari and McLaren territory.
5. It's a concept. Production cars change. Tonight we saw a direction, not a car you can order.

Verdict

Less a car than a promise: a permanent Porsche above the 911, analogue first. If the road car keeps the gauges, the proportions and that phone-only dash, it's the most interesting Porsche in a decade. And if the engine turns out to be something special? That's the one we'll all be chasing.

Phone as the screen: genius or dealbreaker?

Photos and design sketch: Porsche AG. Quotes and design details from Porsche's press release (15 October 2026). The redline reading and engine rumours as reported by Man of Many, Paul Tan and duPont Registry; not confirmed by Porsche.