Porsche 911 Slantnose: How This One-Off Could Shape Future 911s

Flachbau RS shows how Porsche Sonderwunsch experiments can influence future 911 styling while stopping short of confirming any full Slantnose series production.

Porsche 911 GT2 'Flachbau RS' One-Off

Photo by: Porsche

Brian Potter

By: Brian Potter

Sep 1, at 4:16am ET

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The Flachbau RS, built through Porsche's Sonderwunsch arm, revives the slantnose on a 2018 911 GT2 RS.
Alexander Fabig said Sonderwunsch experiments often inspire series products; elements or reinterpretations could appear as a series offer.
Historically, Porsche offered roughly 948 Slantnose 911s in the 1980s as a factory option on 930 Turbos.

Porsche just built a modern-day Moby Dick, and the man in charge of individualization will not rule out sending its DNA to the assembly line. The Flachbau RS, a one-off based on a 2018 911 GT2 RS, revives the slantnose look that made the 935 famous, and it did so through Porsche's Sonderwunsch personalization arm.

Porsche Vice President of Product and Individualization Alexander Fabig confirmed that Sonderwunsch work regularly feeds the regular lineup. That is not a promise of a new Slantnose 911. It is a door left open, and the history behind it explains why nobody is shutting it.

Gallery: Porsche 911 GT2 'Flachbau RS' One-Off

Porsche 911 GT2 'Flachbau RS' One-Off

Source: Porsche

What Porsche Has Actually Confirmed About A Slantnose Return

Fabig did not sidestep when asked if Sonderwunsch could shape future 911s: "Yes. I mean, the idea of Sonderwunsch was always that this is an inspiration for our series products." He followed with something more pointed, telling The Drive it is "very well possible that you see not exactly this, but elements of it, or reinterpretations of it as a series offer."

That is the entire extent of the confirmation. There is no timeline, no trim name, no confirmed model. Porsche's own Slantnose 911 one-off project last year already hinted at this direction, and the Flachbau RS pushes it further without ever crossing into a production announcement.

Context matters here. Mansour Ojjeh commissioned the original slantnose car, the 935 Street, back in 1983, and Porsche went on to build roughly 948 Slantnose 911s that decade as a factory option on 930-generation Turbos. A one-off customer request has already turned into a catalog item once, so nobody at Porsche is treating that history as insignificant.

Porsche 911 GT2 'Flachbau RS' One-Off

Porsche 911 GT2 'Flachbau RS' One-Off

Photo by: Porsche

How Sonderwunsch Projects Become Regular 911 Options

The clearest recent example is the X50 and X51 power kits, both of which started as individual customer requests before Porsche folded them into the standard options sheet. That is the model Fabig is describing: a wealthy buyer wants something unusual, the factory engineers it properly, and if enough people want it too, it's approved.

The Flachbau RS is not a styling mockup. It runs a twin-turbo 3.8-liter flat-six making 700 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque, with flatter wheel arches, a new headlight system and a rear wing borrowed from the 911 GT3 R Rennsport race car. For reference, the current Turbo S already hits 701 horsepower using a T-Hybrid setup, so the RS is not chasing a power record. It is chasing a shape.

Whether that shape reaches showrooms depends on Porsche's appetite for reviving a look tied to an air-cooled era of 911 engineering. Given how often Porsche has folded one-off requests into special-edition 911 variants before, the real question is not if elements of the Flachbau RS trickle down. It is which ones, and how much of that flat nose survives the trip.

What do you think?

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Motor1's Take: This matters to buyers who prize heritage styling and to collectors of limited runs. Sonderwunsch lets Porsche test looks before committing.

If flat-nose cues arrive, expect them as options or special editions, not a new model line. Watch factory personalization and next-gen 911 trims to see what survives.