Porsche built its Mission R Concept like it was a production car

Porsche has revealed an interesting story about its recent show car named the Mission R. Apparently, the engineering crew built it from the ground up every bit as thoroughly as they would a mass-market car, and tested the disembodied chassis on the Porsche test track six months before the premiere.

The motorsports subdivision of Porsche developed the chassis using solutions proven in motorsports, including dual-wishbone suspension and oil cooling for the high-voltage battery. The latter in particular was designed to resemble that od the 919 Hybrid racer that won multiple Le Mans endurance races. The stator even received its very own direct cooling system.

In addition to this, the automaker implemented multiple weight reduction strategies in the concept car. Michael Baer says that a 3D printed reduction gear housing proved 33% lighter than an alloy housing, and the brakes were made 12 kg (25 lbs) lighter thanks to carefully chosen regenerative braking parameters. Widespread use of composite materials in the bodywork helped shed even more mass.

In the end, while the Mission R may never reach production, it is nonetheless a fully featured Porsche sports car.