Porsche’s Next Flagship May Ditch the Audi Bones
Only about three weeks ago, the prevailing rumor held that Porsche was weighing a shortcut to its next halo supercar: borrowing the underlying structure of the Audi Nuvolari. On paper, the idea had merit. The plug-in hybrid twin-turbocharged V8 at the heart of that package, shared with the Lamborghini Temerario, cranks out 987 horsepower. That is hypercar territory by any measure. But the arrangement reportedly came up short in one crucial area — it lacked the bespoke, built-for-Stuttgart quality that Porsche’s most exclusive machines have traditionally carried.
According to a new report, the brand may have reached the same conclusion. The next Porsche flagship, the report suggests, could be a machine developed for Porsche rather than a dressed-up Audi — and it may be powered by an engine layout that has never appeared in a road-going Porsche in the company’s history.
Meet the S1 and Its Flat-Eight
Handelsblatt, the German business newspaper, reports that the car is known internally as the “S1” and that it will use a flat-eight engine. That is a striking choice on multiple levels. Flat-eight powerplants are rare in general, and for Porsche specifically they are bound up with a very particular slice of motorsport history rather than showroom floors.
If the S1 does reach production with that layout, it would become the first flat-eight road car Porsche has ever built. That distinction alone would give the car a kind of provenance that a rebadged platform could not manufacture, which is presumably the entire point of a halo model.
A Heritage Written in Flat Eights
There is precedent, just not the kind that comes with license plates. Porsche’s flat-eight story begins in the early 1960s, when the company entered Formula 1 with an H8 engine. From there, the layout moved to endurance racing, where Porsche fitted flat-eights to its enormously successful 908 World Sportscar Championship racer of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
That record gives the configuration a strong emotional pull for enthusiasts, and it explains why the idea of bringing the flat-eight back has surfaced in rumors on and off over the years. Even so, every one of those applications was a competition machine. Nothing Porsche has sold to the public has ever used the layout.
The Prototype That Got Away
The S1 would not be the first flat-eight Porsche has actually assembled and driven, however. Not long ago, Marcos Marqus, project manager for Porsche eFuel, confirmed that a running prototype of a flat-eight motor had been installed in a modified Cayman chassis. He described it to Motor1 as a “crazy car that sounded amazing.”
The specifications of that testbed make it easy to see why. The twin-turbocharged 5.0-liter unit produced 750 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, revved to a 9,000-rpm redline, and routed its output through a manual gearbox. On paper, it was exactly the sort of unhinged, enthusiast-focused machine that Porsche has historically been celebrated for building.
It also never went anywhere. Despite extensive testing on the roads around Weissach, Porsche ultimately concluded that the car simply “wasn’t the right car for that moment in time.” The project was shelved.
Why Now Might Be Different
What has changed since then, according to the reasoning surrounding the new report, is the broader climate. Sensibilities about internal combustion and the pace of the electric revolution have shifted, which may make a niche, combustion-powered flagship feel more appropriate today than it did when the Cayman test mule was running. A limited-run halo car with a unique engine is precisely the sort of product that can thrive in that environment — emotionally resonant, financially unobtainable for most, and immune to the usual volume arguments.
Porsche is not alone in sensing an opening. Ruf, the long-running Porsche tuner that now operates effectively as an automaker in its own right, appears to share the enthusiasm, as the report notes.
What the S1 Would Cost
Handelsblatt reports that the S1 would start at roughly $600,000. To put that in perspective, it is a little more than double what Porsche currently asks for the 911 Turbo S, which serves as the brand’s present-day top performer. A price at that level places the car in a distinct stratum: above the standard 911 hierarchy and squarely in the territory of limited-production flagships.
For that money, buyers would presumably expect more than performance figures. They would be paying for exclusivity, for a bespoke engine architecture, and for a direct line to Porsche’s racing past — the intangible value that a borrowed platform could not deliver.
Questions That Remain
- Whether the flat-eight in the S1 would be related to the 5.0-liter twin-turbo prototype or an entirely new design.
- Whether the car would be a limited-production model, as its reported price and positioning suggest.
- Whether a manual gearbox — a signature of the Cayman prototype — could survive into a production flagship.
- When, or if, Porsche will officially confirm the S1 program.
The Bottom Line
For now, the S1 is a report rather than a confirmed product, and Porsche has not publicly announced the program. But the direction it describes is notable. Instead of borrowing from a sibling brand to create a halo car, Porsche would be reaching back into its own competition history and reviving an engine format it has never offered to the public. If the report holds, the flat-eight’s long absence from Porsche’s road cars may finally be coming to an end — at a price that reflects how singular the result would be.
This article is based on reporting by Jalopnik. Read the original article.
Originally published on jalopnik.com
