Porsche 959 (1986–1993)

Limited edition

Production

345

confirmed units built

every.autos editorialconfidence: high

A rally car that never got to race — and became the most advanced road car of its decade.

The 959 began as Porsche's weapon for Group B, the wild rallying category of the mid-1980s. To go racing, Porsche had to build a road-legal run of at least 200 cars — so the 959 arrived as a showcase of everything the company knew. Then Group B was cancelled, and the 959 became something stranger and better: a technology demonstrator you could actually buy.

Its 2.8-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six made 444 hp, but the real story was the electronics. A computer-controlled all-wheel-drive system shuffled torque between the axles on the fly, adjustable for road conditions — ideas that took the rest of the industry years to catch up with. Top speed was about 197 mph, making it, briefly, the fastest road car in the world, and it weighed 1,450 kg.

Only 345 were built. The 959 is where the modern, all-wheel-drive, computer-managed supercar was effectively invented.

Written and fact-checked for every.autos · every claim checked against the sources below · 2026-07

Sources (2)

Background

The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at least 200 units be produced.

Text adapted from “Porsche 959” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗ · retrieved 2026-07

Specification