A Model Touch

Giving shape to the cars of the future—this is the challenge faced by model builders. The result: dazzling 1:1 scale design models. The Porsche Weissach Development Center is abuzz with milling, sintering, and modeling. With state-of-the-art technology and speed. A look behind the scenes.

A hidden world below ground. The large glass roof above the courtyards is the only source of natural light in the long corridors, with their high, bright walls reflecting ever so faintly on the polished floor. On the floors above, Porsche designers are working on the still-secret car models of the future. In these workshops of the mind, daydreams and creativity become concrete ideas. Pure, concentrated imagination just waiting to take shape in the real world.

Those design ideas then materialize in the workshops of the model- and concept-building team. Out of the sparks of creativity and initial sketches emerge the computer-aided design models of the design department, and from there the denizens of the ground floor make something tangible for the first time: with substance, material, and real mass. From small design models the size of suitcases to startlingly realistic concept cars, it is all embodied here—and in almost every conceivable size.

Philip Morsey gazes attentively through the Plexiglas panes of the safety doors at the five-axis portal milling machine. Its gigantic head is picking up a milling cutter as thick as an arm. The chuck carefully but tightly clamps onto the cutter and suddenly the sharp teeth whir into action, moving toward a greenish clump of foam on the surface of an enormous and still rather raw-looking wooden box.

Morsey, director of the entire concept design department, chuckles at the quizzical looks on the faces of his visitors. “That’s going to be a 1:1 scale model of the future sports car with an electric drive system—the Mission E. The engineers need to have a realistic model for their aerodynamics testing and the ventilation of the high-performance batteries with cooling air.” He gestures toward the wooden box. “The foam elements define the later body surface with millimeter precision. The milling machine is currently setting precise reference points for the subsequent building process. But we can also cut entire 1:1 scale models right out of a block.”

Riveted, the amazed spectators watch for a few more minutes as the milling machine moves from point to point; then Philip Morsey turns around and leans against the wall with an easygoing grin. His gaze probes the contours of the building and his hands make a sweeping gesture that includes all that he surveys: “You’ll hardly believe it, but first the foundation for this hall was poured, then the 116-ton portal milling machine was set up, and only then was the building built around it. First the milling machine was there, then the hall.”

Morsey waits a minute for the message to sink in before leading the way into an adjacent room. “But making design models is just one aspect of what we do here—though admittedly they are especially exciting and glamorous.” They also allow the executive board to get an idea of how a future car will look in reality based on an initial model. “They literally make it possible to grasp a new product, and that’s incredibly important.”

Until now, Dr. Christian Looman, the man on Morsey’s team responsible for the model design workshops, has listened attentively, but at this point he elaborates: “When drawings and ideas become an actual model, that gives designers the opportunity to develop their ideas further. The designers can see where the car design is already coherent, and where a correction of proportion and design is needed.” Without a physical model, explains Looman, there would be no truly substantive feedback. And thanks to the speed that Looman’s people are capable of achieving with state-of-the-art technology and the expertise of the model builders, the entire design process—and indeed the development overall—is stunningly accelerated.