Porsche Flachbau RS Revives the Iconic Slantnose With a Road-Legal 700 HP GT2 RS

KUALA LUMPUR, AUGUST 2026 — Porsche has brought one of its most distinctive design traditions back to life with the unveiling of the Porsche Flachbau RS, an extraordinary factory one-off created through its Sonderwunsch customisation programme.

The project transforms a virtually new 2018 Type 991.2 Porsche 911 GT2 RS equipped with the Weissach Package into a modern interpretation of Porsche’s famous Flachbau, or “Slantnose,” design. The car was developed in collaboration with Manthey and remains road legal in Europe according to its owner’s requirements.

The Flachbau RS made its public debut during Monterey Car Week 2026, following almost three years of development involving Porsche Sonderwunsch, Style Porsche, engineers from Weissach, Porsche Motorsport and Manthey.

The most dramatic transformation is visible at the front.

Instead of the conventional round headlights associated with the 911, the Flachbau RS receives much flatter front fenders and an entirely bespoke lighting arrangement. Three extremely slim LED elements are stacked vertically to provide high beam, low beam and daytime running-light functions.

Its design directly references the famous Porsche 935/78, nicknamed “Moby Dick,” one of the most recognisable racing Porsches ever produced.

Finished in Grand Prix White, the Flachbau RS features matte-black sections and exposed carbon-fibre detailing. A distinctive U-shaped graphic across the front recalls the Martini-liveried 935/78, while Porsche developed a special version of Grand Prix White specifically for the project using a historic car from its collection as a reference.

Designer Grant Larson, who also worked on Porsche’s modern 935 interpretation unveiled in 2018, was responsible for the design of the Flachbau RS.

The Flachbau name carries significant history within Porsche.

During the 1980s, the company offered customers a special version of the Type 930 911 Turbo featuring redesigned front fenders and pop-up headlights inspired by the Porsche 935 racing car. Porsche says 948 examples were produced between 1982 and 1989, making original factory Flachbau models among the rarest versions of the classic 911.

Interest in a modern revival increased after Porsche registered the names “Flachbau” and “Flachbau RS” with the European Patent Office in May 2025. Porsche has now confirmed that those registrations were connected to this one-off Sonderwunsch project rather than a new series-production model.

The transformation goes well beyond styling.

Manthey contributed aerodynamic components including front canards, an optimised underbody and rear diffuser, while carbon-fibre aero discs are installed on the rear wheels to reduce drag.

One of the car’s most dramatic features is its huge rear wing.

Inspired by the 911 GT3 R rennsport, the wing uses unusual S-shaped supports and sits almost two inches higher than the component that inspired it. Drivers can manually adjust it between three positions depending on the required level of downforce.

Porsche says that in its High Downforce configuration, the Flachbau RS can generate around 1,221 pounds of rear-axle downforce at approximately 211 mph.

Despite the extensive body modifications, Porsche also placed considerable emphasis on reducing weight.

The Sonderwunsch team removed almost 70 pounds compared with the donor car through extensive lightweight measures.

Much of that saving comes from the interior.

The Porsche Communication Management infotainment system was removed and replaced by a leather-trimmed storage compartment, while the entire audio system, much of the sound insulation and sections of interior carpeting were deleted.

Behind the carbon-fibre bucket seats, the cabin is deliberately stripped back to resemble a competition car, leaving Grand Prix White-painted metal and sections of exposed wiring visible.

The headrests carry “Flachbau RS” embroidery together with an outline of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, while a gold-coloured dashboard plaque reads “Werksunikat 2026 – Flachbau RS,” identifying it as a factory one-off.

While Porsche completely redesigned the body and aerodynamics, the customer requested that the original GT2 RS powertrain remain unchanged.

The Type 991.2 GT2 RS uses a 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six producing 700 hp and 750 Nm of torque, driving the rear wheels through a PDK transmission. In standard form, Porsche quoted a 0-100 km/h time of 2.8 seconds and a 340 km/h top speed.

The result is therefore a car that retains the extreme performance foundation of one of Porsche’s most powerful road-going 911s while gaining significantly revised aerodynamics and a completely new visual identity.

Creating the Flachbau shape required much more engineering work than simply replacing body panels.

Porsche conducted digital crash simulations, airbag validation, structural analysis and computational fluid dynamics studies before approving production of the bespoke components.

Three development vehicles were then built for further testing.

The programme included lighting and wind-tunnel evaluations, road testing, runs at Mendig airfield and 50 laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Porsche also simulated rear-wing loading equivalent to approximately 150,000 kilometres of customer use.

Porsche test driver Lars Kern said the revised aerodynamic package delivered strong stability and precision at very high speeds during Nordschleife testing.

Despite the attention generated by the Flachbau RS, Porsche currently presents the car as an individual Sonderwunsch Factory One-Off, not a limited-production model available for general ordering.

That exclusivity makes the project an example of how far Porsche’s Sonderwunsch programme can go when combining customer ideas with factory engineering, motorsport technology and historic design references.

By taking the mechanical foundation of the 700-hp GT2 RS and reshaping it around the unmistakable silhouette of the 935, the Porsche Flachbau RS brings one of the brand’s most celebrated designs back into the modern era — this time as a fully engineered, road-legal one-of-one collector car.