Porsche and Lucasfilm Team Up to Design New Star Wars Spaceship
New starship will blend Porsche Taycan with the X-Wing, Y-Wing, and U-Wing.
A short time ago on a planet not so far away, two companies got together to promote a seminal moment in pop culture history. Lucasfilm and Porsche are celebrating the December 20 release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the Porsche Taycan by teaming up to develop a new starship. Both companies have created iconic designs that are instantly recognizable to millions of Earthlings, and their collaboration promises to give fans something special.
As Lucasfilm finishes the trilogy that jumped start a new era in Star Wars and Porsche seeks to embark on a similar path with their first electric car, the world waits with bated breath for these two highly anticipated works of art. At this point it’s hard to tell whether the movie or the car will have a greater impact on society. Whatever happens, we’re sure the artists and designers at Lucasfilm and Porsche will continue to inspire each other and the public at large for decades to come.
The sleek, aerodynamic designs that made Porsche a world-class automaker might seem out of place in the Star Wars universe. But the automobile industry greatly impacted Star Wars progenitor George Lucas. In fact, his love of racing indirectly led him to the film industry.
As a young man, Lucas purchased and customized an Autobianchi Bianchina, which was a Fiat 500 based mini-car from Italy. He even worked at a garage that specialized in Renault branded vehicles. A horrible crash quickly changed his mind about wanting to become a race car driver. But it did put him on the path to filmmaking, and the space fantasy beloved by millions.
Automobiles also played a major role in the creation of at least one iconic starship featured in A New Hope. The Tantive IV, which was the very first ship seen in the entire franchise, went through several revisions. Ultimately, it was decided that eleven large exhaust ports would be added to the rear, in order to make it look more like a race car. The pod-race sequence featured prominently in The Phantom Menace clearly drew inspiration from real life racing as well.
The leadership responsible for this project are Doug Chiang and Michael Mauer. Chiang is Vice President and Creative Director of Lucasfilm while Mauer is Vice President Style Porsche at Porsche AG. Seven other artists and designers will help develop the spaceship. The ship itself will be officially revealed at the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker with a physical model. Porsche will also be presenting the Taycan at the event as well. Like the movie, the fully-electric car will be available to audiences at the end of the year.
As it stands currently, the group will combine the designs of the X-Wing, Y-Wing, and U-Wing with Porsche Taycan. “Developing a spacecraft with clear Porsche design DNA is exiting and challenging,” said Mauer. “Even though they do not seem to share many elements at first glance, both worlds have a similar design philosophy. The close collaboration with the Star Wars design team inspires and fascinates us – I’m sure that both sides can draw major benefits from this exchange.”
“The worldwide appeal of the Star Wars and Porsche brands is shaped decisively by their iconic designs,” said Chiang. “We are bringing together two worlds with this project: the exotic film design of a galaxy far, far away and the precision work that goes into developing emotive Porsche sports cars. This collaboration promises to produce an innovative design that will blend the best of both brands to create an exciting new starship worthy of Porsche and Star Wars.”
They often say that art imitates life. In the case of this latest promotion, it seems that saying has been flipped around on its head. Regardless, we’re excited to see what the team comes up with. You can head over to Wired‘s dedicated page on the project, which features some concept art that might influence the final design of the new spacehip.
Photos: Porsche