Porsche EV hypercar under study for right-hand drive

Porsche’s incoming all-new hypercar may one day be legally driven across the Sydney Harbour Bridge or through the suburbs of other Australian capital cities – en route to a racetrack where it could set a hot lap to embarrass a V8 Supercar.

Previewed as the Mission X concept car, the production version of the all-electric hypercar is on the wish list for Porsche in Australia, which has already started lobbying head office to manufacture the car with the steering wheel on the right.

Porsche Australia chief Daniel Schmollinger has revealed that he’s gone right to the top to request the production version of the fastest-ever road-going Porsche be offered Down Under.

“They’re evaluating [right-hand drive],” he told carsales following recent discussions with Porsche head office.

“I spoke to [Porsche CEO] Oliver Blume and asked if this would be possible.”

The Mission X is the forerunner for the latest Porsche hypercar. Previous hypercars from the brand have included the 918 Spyder, Carrera GT and 959.

Unlike those, however, the Mission X is all-electric, utilising electric motors to produce something like 1000 horsepower, or about 740kW.

“This car – if it goes into production – will change the game,” said Schmollinger.

Scissor doors open to a cabin inspired by Porsche racers, and the car is made of a carbon-fibre exoskeleton.

Porsche’s global spokesperson for Taycan and electromobility, Mayk Wienkötter, said the hypercar was yet to be approved for production but “by the end of the [next] year we will have collected all the data that we need and then … we will make a call”.

So-called hypercars – the ballistic ultra-low-volume once-in-a-decade models from the likes Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche – are usually made exclusively in left-hand drive form.

Blame it on economics. Car-makers work on scale and the reality is there aren’t enough right-hand drive markets to justify the multi-million-dollar investment program.

That’s especially true when some of those bigger right-hand drive markets – such as Japan and the UK – allow left-hand drive cars on the road.

It’s unclear whether it would be easier to engineer the production version of the Mission X as a right-hand drive given its electrical architecture.

Wienkötter said that even if the engineering challenge was easier, it was still “a lot of effort” and that there are still other hurdles for RHD manufacturing.

“Even if it’s easier, it’s still a lot of work with the application and also with the packaging,” he said.

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