Marc Philipp Gemballa Marsien GT Is Porsche’s New Road Supercar

Porsche is not currently making a genuine supercar. The space where a successor to the 918 Spyder ought to sit remains conspicuously empty. Porsche-adjacent firms are only too pleased to fill that void with their vision of a 911-inspired supercar, however. There is the Kalmar 9X9, the Tuthill GT-One, the RML GTH and the Singer DLS-T.

Now Marc Philipp Gemballa has entered the fray with the new Marsien GT.

Marc Philipp Gemballa Marsien GT: a road-focused supercar

Created by the son of the late Porsche tuner Uwe Gemballa, the Marc Philipp Gemballa Marsien GT is the road-biased counterpart to the off-road Marsien supercar that TopGear.com drove exclusively - and jumped - in 2024.

Simply lowering the suspension, adding lower-profile tyres and declaring “job done” would have been the straightforward route. That is not what happened. Marc Philipp Gemballa says the two cars retain only their doors and roof panels, with the latter now incorporating a vast scoop that feeds the intercooler.

Its entirely carbon-fibre body now has a centrally positioned bonnet fuel filler, squared-off front intakes inspired by the 911 GT2 RS, reshaped sides and a forceful diffuser. Alongside fresh wheels and tyres, and a fully bespoke lower suspension setup that still includes a 100 mm front lift system, the GT receives an Akrapovic quad-exit exhaust in place of the twin-pipe arrangement.

830 hp as standard, with 900 hp on the way

So, does that bring extra power? Absolutely. Marc told TopGear.com that every Marsien customer selected the option to raise the RUF-tuned twin-turbo flat-six from 750 to 830 hp. As a result, the GT’s standard output is - as you may have guessed - 830 hp. An enhancement beyond the enhancement, taking the GT past 900 hp, is also under development. It will be interesting to see how many of the 30 customers opt for it.

MPG quotes a 0-100 km/h time of 2.4 seconds and a 330 km/h maximum speed. There is no extravagant downforce figure and no pledge of a Nürburgring-devouring lap time. Refreshingly, that is because this is designed to be a usable road car rather than a track-focused quasi-racer.

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Porsche 959-inspired bodywork and 992 Turbo S underpinnings

To create this modern-day Porsche 959, complete with widened tracks and an enormous looped rear wing, Marc Philipp Gemballa reworks a 992.1 Turbo donor vehicle. Ideally, it should be a Turbo S, must be a coupé, and cannot be the latest Turbo S with its complex e-turbos. That choice also preserves several interior features that are absent from the current Turbo S, including a physical rev counter and a twist-to-start engine control.

Turn the drive-mode switch on the steering wheel and the active aerodynamic flaps in the front wing and main spoiler rise up - imagine the AMG One’s hedgehog mode. It is an entertaining party trick, although the attention to detail extends well beyond it.

Take the centre console. It is set at a steeper angle than in a standard 911, referencing the central ‘bridges’ of the Porsche Carrera GT and 918 Spyder. The PDK selector has also been exchanged for a manual-style lever with a distinctly Carrera GT-like appearance. Nice.

MPG applies additional suede to the console too, concealing Porsche’s wearisome reliance on inexpensive piano-black plastic. Like Porsche’s own GT division does with the GT3 RS and 911 S/T, the Marsien GT also dispenses with Porsche’s unpopular pop-out door handles.

Marsien GT price: around £1 million in total

It had better appear and feel costly, then, as the Marsien GT is priced at five times the cost of a new 911 Turbo S. This is how the numbers work.

The ‘GT’ conversion alone costs €770,000, or approximately £650,000. Taxes, the donor vehicle and options are additional. Donor 992 Turbo S coupés currently begin at roughly £120,000, while the average spend on options for the 40 off-road Marsiens has been €227,000. Once everything is included, the final figure is around £1 million in almost any currency you happen to be spending.

In today’s wild world of hypercars and Porsche-based project cars, that actually places it towards the more reasonable end of the market. Besides, Porsche seems to have no immediate intention of producing another hypercar…