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Porsche Chooses Tobias Sühlmann to Shape Its Future

For more than 20 years, Porsche’s look has been guided by one steady hand. From the evolution of the 911’s timeless silhouette to the once-controversial but now indispensable Panamera, Michael Mauer didn’t just design cars—he defined what modern Porsche means. But starting February 1, 2026, that responsibility will pass to a new generation, as Tobias Sühlmann steps in as Porsche’s new Head of Design.

Sühlmann, 46, arrives from McLaren, where he’s been Chief Design Officer since 2023, and his résumé reads like a greatest-hits album of modern performance brands: Volkswagen, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Bentley, and now Porsche. If there’s a common thread in that lineup, it’s high-speed elegance—and that’s exactly what Stuttgart is betting on as it navigates an electrified, software-driven future.

The End of the Mauer Era

Michael Mauer, now 63, leaves behind one of the most influential design legacies in Porsche history. Since taking the job in 2004, he’s been the caretaker of one of the most recognizable shapes in the automotive world: the 911. Under his leadership, Porsche modernized without losing its soul, a balancing act that many legacy brands have fumbled.

Mauer also helped Porsche expand its design language beyond sports cars. The Panamera, launched in 2009, was a gamble—a four-door Porsche sounded like heresy at the time—but it became a cornerstone of the brand. Then came the 918 Spyder, which proved that electrification could coexist with exotic performance long before hybrids were cool.

More recently, Mauer led Porsche into the EV era, making sure the Taycan and future electric models still look unmistakably Porsche. His philosophy was simple but demanding: a Porsche should appeal to all the senses, not just the stopwatch.

And he’s not disappearing overnight. Mauer will stay on during a transition period, ensuring that Porsche’s design DNA doesn’t get lost in the handoff.

Enter Tobias Sühlmann

If Porsche wanted a safe, conservative pick, Sühlmann wouldn’t be it—and that’s the point.

He, like Mauer, studied at the legendary Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, but his career has taken him through some of the most daring design studios in the industry. From shaping Bugatti hypercars to refining Aston Martin’s elegance and helping craft Bentley’s ultra-exclusive Batur, Sühlmann has spent his career where luxury, performance, and bold styling collide.

His most recent stint at McLaren is especially telling. Woking isn’t known for nostalgia—it’s about aerodynamic aggression and futuristic surfaces. That influence could push Porsche’s design language into sharper, more expressive territory without abandoning its iconic roots.

Porsche CEO Michael Leiters has made it clear what he expects: Sühlmann is there to “sharpen Porsche’s profile.” In other words, this isn’t about reinvention—it’s about turning up the contrast.

What This Means for Future Porsches

This leadership change comes at a critical moment. Porsche is preparing for a future where electrification is the rule, not the exception. The next-generation 718 will be electric. More battery-powered models are coming. And design will have to do more than ever to preserve emotional appeal when engine noise fades away.

Sühlmann’s background in high-end sports and supercars makes him uniquely suited to that challenge. Expect Porsches that look more sculpted, more aggressive, and perhaps more experimental—especially as new EV platforms free designers from traditional packaging constraints.

But don’t expect the 911 to suddenly forget who it is. Porsche is famously cautious with its icons, and Mauer’s continued involvement during the transition will ensure continuity. The headlights will still look like Porsche headlights. The roofline will still whisper “911.” The soul will still be there.

A Generational Shift, Not a Revolution

Porsche isn’t ripping up its design rulebook—it’s passing it to a new author.

Michael Mauer wrote one of the longest and most successful chapters in the brand’s history, guiding Porsche through SUVs, sedans, hybrids, and EVs without losing its visual identity. Tobias Sühlmann now gets to write the next one, armed with experience from some of the world’s most exciting performance brands.

For Porsche fans, that’s not something to fear. It’s something to watch closely.

Source: Porsche

News

Maserati Blocks Sale of First Customer MCXtrema After Bidding Hits $751K

For a company that’s spent the last decade searching for relevance, Maserati doesn’t get many moments of genuine buzz. The MCXtrema should have been one of them. A track-only, 730-horsepower evolution of the MC20, limited to just 62 units worldwide, the MCXtrema is exactly the kind of unhinged halo car that makes enthusiasts lean in and start paying attention again. Instead, Maserati has found a way to turn that excitement into confusion, frustration, and a canceled auction.

Late last month, the first customer-owned MCXtrema ever to hit the open market appeared on Bring a Trailer. The car was essentially new, showing just 228 kilometers (141 miles), and had been delivered to its original owner during 2024’s Monterey Car Week. Not long after, it landed in the hands of a dealer—almost certainly with resale profits in mind.

Bidding quickly surged to $751,000. Then, just as quickly, the entire listing vanished.

The reason? Maserati didn’t like it.

Bring a Trailer confirmed that Maserati of North America intervened and restricted the sale of the car, forcing the auction to be withdrawn. No official explanation was offered as to why Maserati would block the resale of a vehicle that had already changed hands once.

“We obviously cannot put the eventual winning bidder into a problematic post-auction situation,” BaT wrote, adding that the seller was informed Maserati was restricting the transaction. Translation: the manufacturer made it clear the buyer might not be able to register, service, or even properly take ownership of the car if the auction continued.

That’s not how you want your million-dollar track toy introduced to the world.

Unsurprisingly, the enthusiast community didn’t take it quietly. On BaT’s forums, reactions ranged from annoyed to outright mocking. One user summed up the mood perfectly: “For the first time in years, there’s finally some excitement around a new Maserati… and Maserati of North America finds yet another way to mess it up.” Another commenter was less subtle, suggesting Maserati should instead focus on stopping its normal cars from depreciating “like used Kleenex.”

The irony is that the MCXtrema is exactly the kind of machine Maserati should be celebrating in public view. Beneath its wild aero and track-only bodywork sits the familiar MC20 architecture—but turned up to a near-ridiculous level. The twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 has been cranked to 730 horsepower, channeled through a six-speed sequential gearbox and a mechanical limited-slip differential driving the rear wheels. It’s lighter, louder, more aggressive, and entirely unconcerned with things like emissions, ride comfort, or road legality.

In other words, it’s everything modern Maseratis usually aren’t.

Manufacturers trying to control who buys their ultra-rare cars isn’t new—Ferrari has made a sport of it—but blocking a resale after a car has already been delivered sets a different, far more awkward precedent. If Maserati wants the MCXtrema to be taken seriously as a hardcore driver’s machine rather than just another rich-guy toy, it probably shouldn’t treat its first public resale like a scandal.

The MCXtrema was supposed to signal that Maserati still knows how to build something wild. Instead, it’s also becoming a reminder that even when the hardware is finally right, the brand can still trip over its own shoelaces.

Source: Bring a Trailer

News

A Million-Dollar Porsche 911 Speedster That Lost Six Figures Before Its First Oil Change

In the high-stakes world of Porsche restomods, depreciation is supposed to be something that happens to Cayennes, not carbon-fiber 911 Speedsters. But this Gunther Werks build just proved that even the bluest of blue-chip air-cooled exotica isn’t immune to gravity.

This particular Gunther Werks 911 Speedster—one of just 25 ever made—recently sold for $965,000. That sounds outrageous until you realize it had traded hands for $1.15 million only a few months earlier. That’s nearly $200,000 gone in under a fiscal quarter, which is about the same rate of value loss as a Bentley leaving the showroom.

Ouch.

The car left Gunther Werks’ Huntington Beach facility in October 2022, built to the firm’s obsessive standards and finished in a bespoke Gin Tree Green metallic. A year later, it landed at New York–based HK Motorcars, who apparently saw it less as a toy and more as a rolling financial instrument. That gamble didn’t quite pay off.

The dealer tossed it onto Bring a Trailer, where bidding topped out at $905,000—well shy of their reserve. Soon after, a private deal closed at $965,000, locking in a $185,000 loss for the seller. Whether that means the dealer overpaid or the new buyer scored a bargain is something the next resale will reveal. But either way, it’s a reminder that even seven-figure Porsches don’t always go up.

Fortunately, if you’re going to lose six figures on a car, it might as well be one that looks like this.

Gunther Werks doesn’t restore 911s so much as re-engineer them. Each Speedster begins as a donor 993 that’s stripped to its steel skeleton before being reborn with a full carbon-fiber body. Every panel is lighter, stiffer, and shaped with modern aerodynamic intent, even if the silhouette still screams late-’90s Stuttgart.

This one’s custom green paint is offset by matte green stripes and yellow Porsche script, a subtle nod to motorsport heritage wrapped in boutique-level craftsmanship. It’s less “classic 911” and more “what Porsche would build if it ignored accounting.”

Underneath the carbon lies a 4.0-liter air-cooled flat-six that’s about as far from stock as a Mezger can get. With Mahle pistons, forged rods, and a billet crankshaft, it produces 430 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque—numbers that would’ve sounded absurd in a 1990s 911 but now feel perfectly at home in a carbon-skinned Speedster.

Power goes through a six-speed manual, because of course it does, and the chassis is handled by adaptive coilovers with Brembo brakes big enough to stop a small aircraft. Six-piston calipers up front, four in the rear, and more grip than a tax audit.

Inside, the same no-expense-spared philosophy continues. Gunther Werks cabins are more private jet than vintage Porsche, blending bespoke materials with modern hardware while still preserving the basic 911 layout.

So yes, someone lost nearly $200,000 on this Speedster in record time. But the person who bought it for $965,000 may have just landed one of the most exquisite air-cooled Porsches ever built for what passes as a bargain in this rarefied world.

In the restomod market, timing is everything. And sometimes, even a million-dollar Porsche has a bad day on Wall Street.

Source: Bring a Trailer

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