Porsche design
Tobias Sühlmann on the Mission S and the future of Porsche’s design language
CDN correspondent Laura Burstein gets the inside scoop from Porsche’s new VP of design on the eve of the brand’s mid-engine supercar concept debut.
Only eight months into his role as the new vice president of Style Porsche — and only six month after the first sketch — Tobias Sühlmann and his team have hit it out of the park with a stunning, mid-engine sports car concept.
Sitting above the 911, the Mission S marks the next chapter for Porsche’s design language, and is a key element in the company’s recently announced turnaround plan, which will focus on taking the storied brand to even higher levels of customisation and exclusivity.
As importantly, Sühlmann takes the reins as only the fifth-ever head of design at Style Porsche, following in the footsteps of Michael Mauer, who led the studio for more than 22 years.
Laura Burstein: Porsche is one of the most fabled brands in history, so being selected for this position must come with a lot of pressure. How did you prepare for your role?
Tobias Sühlmann: Before I drew anything, it was important for me to study the brand. It’s like a new chef that comes into a restaurant; I wanted to understand how they were cooking there. What is the team like? What's in the fridge? And how can we develop that further, to make it successful? I did a deep dive into our history — I went to the museum and the archives. And with those right ingredients you can start cooking.
LB: And how did that inform the new design strategy going forward?
TS: In creating the strategy we had the idea to compare our lineup with athletes. Porsche has three main categories of vehicles: The halo cars that are more extreme, like the Carrera GT or 918 Spyder; the core lineup, which includes the 911, and then the “plus” category, which are the vehicles such as the Cayenne and Macan. They're all athletes, but they have different body types. One has leaner muscles, the other one has bigger muscles. one is lighter, one is heavier — and this is how we see our sports cars. And then the call came from Michael [Leiters] who said, can you imagine, too, to develop a mid-engine car that sits above a 911? And this is when we started with the Mission S.
LB: What are some key design elements that define Porsche cars — and by extension the Mission S?
TS: It starts with a really powerful stance; then there’s the signature flyline; and torpedo-shaped fenders, which you can see when you sit in the car. All of the sculpture is very structured, with these very precise, Bauhaus-like graphics.
LB: Would you say design or engineering took the lead on the Mission S project, and how did you work together throughout the process?
TS: It's always together. I like to be with the engineering team from the get-go, and from my experience, this works really nicely. Such as — can we move the radiator just a little bit inboard or outboard, because my shape should be like this? When you talk about what's underneath the form, you also need to talk about how the form is developed, to be the best in terms of aerodynamics. What do we want in the car? And maybe which elements can I take out?
LB: And what about within the design studio? What’s the communication and workflow like between departments?
TS: I like to have everybody involved from the beginning [of a project], so they're not in silos or separated. People need to talk to each other. The exterior team needs to talk to the color and material team as well as the interior team. I also inform the whole team whenever we make some decisions together with the board. I want to make sure that the team feels right, with people that have the same mindset, and who can push forward together. Because if the team doesn't work, nothing works.
LB: And how do you know when you have the right team?
You see it from how people act, how they work, how passionate they are. It's like being the trainer of a soccer team; you need to find out who is the defender or the striker. You have some people that are strong in strategy, you have other people that are strong in advanced design. Some people are strong in production, and some people that are interested in finance and know how we might be able to save some money. So it's a very diverse team with different backgrounds.
LB: Five years from now, what will be your measurement of success at Style Porsche?
TS: During the [Mission S] presentation, I used three words that describe our philosophy: authentic, consequent [i.e. without compromise], and timeless. And my goal is that our future products will be exactly that.
