Porsche does a great business with special-edition 911 models. These extremely profitable limited runs are like gold to collectors, who are all willing to pay big prices to get their hands on one, and spend even more money on further customization. Recent trademark fillings with the EU Intellectual Property Office hint that its next could be a revival of a 1980s icon, the Flachbau.
Road & Track first drew our attention to fillings for "Porsche Flachbau" and "Flachbau RS," both of which are dated May 14th, 2025. The name translates in English to "slant nose" and refers to a special option for the 911 Turbo that replaced the car's trademark raised fenders and frog-eyed lights with a flat nose and pop-ups that aped the look of the 935 race car. Porsche built the cars in extremely small numbers throughout the 1980s, and revived the option for the 964 Turbo S of 1994, though this time with exposed 928-style pop-up lights.
Of course, automakers trademark old names all the time to protect their intellectual property. But, Porsche has been doing all sorts of retro-inspired 911s of late. Throughout the life of the current 992-generation 911, it's done tribute models to specific decades. The 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition was inspired by the 1950s; the 911 Sport Classic referenced models from the 1960s; and the recently revealed 911 Spirit 70 obviously pays homage to the 1970s. Porsche has said it planned to do four of these models, and a revived Flachbau would be an ideal 1980s tribute.
The name Flachbau RS is especially intriguing, too. We know Porsche is also working on a new 911 GT2 RS, so maybe it's planning a special slant-nose version of that car. If it were to build it, collectors would be tripping over themselves and each other to get an allocation.
This might all be nothing. But, we'd hardly be surprised to see a modern Flachbau. It's almost too good of an idea.
