Porsche Vision 357 Tribute Goes Into Series Production, Albeit Only Virtually, Sadly

The date was June 8th, 1948, when Ferry Porsche and his team celebrated the Porsche 356 No. 1 Roadster turning into “the first automobile bearing the name Porsche to receive its general operating permit.” From then on, German sports car history was written with just three letters – first the 356 and then the 911. And, of course, that warrants a proper anniversary whenever a milestone is achieved.

As such, because this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Porsche saga, the carmaker decided it needed a proper birthday gift both for itself and its numerous worldwide fans. The latter will get the chance to see a special exhibition called ‘Driven by Dreams. 75 years of Porsche sports cars,’ at the ‘DRIVE. Volkswagen Group Forum’ in Berlin between January 27 and September 10, 2023.

As for the company, the b-day present to itself and the world is called Porsche Vision 357. As the name suggests, it is a proper homage to the undying 356 that unites past, present, and future – including thanks to some lighting innovations and a sports compact allure that would make its ancestor pretty darn proud. Alas, there is just one problem. Even though Porsche did use a sound technical base – the 718 Cayman GT4 RS platform – we are still dealing with just a design study concept that will never see the inside of a factory unless it is part of the planned world tour of anniversary celebration events.

Alas, has that ever stopped intrepid people from dreaming, especially if they are part of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators? Not at all, and among the first to try and envision the potential series-production version of the Porsche Vision 357 is also the virtual artist better known as Theottle on social media, who has quickly switched his CGI attention to Porsche’s 75th-anniversary tribute to the iconic 356 from other mundane stuff – like a China-bound electric Volvo MPV or a fictional third-gen Nissan Leaf EV.

This quick redesign from the pixel master’s latest behind-the-scenes making-of feature (embedded below) is, of course, “just an exercise to turn the Porsche Vision 357 concept into a production car.” But it is a thorough one. As such, the first order of CGI business was to remove all the 75th-anniversary livery details, followed by the decision to subtly tone down the prototype styling and other crazy details (such as the long rear slats), as well as the addition of various standard production car features – like an aero pack worthy of its GT4 RS 493-hp heart and the installation of contemporary headlights and taillights.