Who says minivans aren't cool? Look at the Porsche Vision Renndienst!

As part of activities surrounding the release of a new book called “Porsche Unseen”, the German car-maker has opened the virtual doors of its design studio at Weissach for a sneak peek into a handful of design studies the team created between 2005 and 2019. Of course, being experimental prototypes intended to test the creative limits of the design team while also helping to develop a long-term vision for the brand, these never made it outside the studio. Until now, that is.

While a race car-derived street sports car and a spartan roadster for the purists amongst others were studied as one would imagine from Porsche, what piqued my interest was a minivan. You read that right. But wait, don’t curse me. A 6-seat minivan from Porsche is real! 2020 is odd, indeed.

While you let that sink in, the Vision "Renndienst” - as Porsche calls it - is their design team’s interpretation of what a futuristic family van from the brand could look like. The result? An amazingly cool minivan that’s instantly desirable.

First up, the proportions are spot-on with all four wheels pushed off to the corners. The wheels themselves are massive housed inside muscular wheel arches that are flared just enough. The current design DNA of the brand is visible all through - from the quad-lights up front to the light bar running the width of the rear. Reducing the visual bulk of a minivan is quite a task and the team at Porsche has done that rather well using black inserts all around and a swanky greenhouse. Shown alongside an old Volkswagen T1, the differences in design and execution is understandably stark.

Inside, the Vision Renndienst is said to be equally funky with a central driver’s seat flanked by two passenger seats on either side placed slightly behind in a triangular layout. Apparently, there are seats to accommodate three more passengers behind. Keeping with the ‘futuristic’ theme, the Vision Renndienst is envisioned as a zero-emission full-electric vehicle with autonomous capabilities to boot. No further details have been shared.

How cool would it be to have one parked in your garage? Sadly, 1:1 isn’t going to be possible. Your best bet would be to wait for one of the many die-cast manufacturers to come out with a 1:18 or a 1:43 scale model and bring one of those little ones home.