The Marc Philipp Gemballa Marisen GT is an 830hp Porsche 959 for the 2020s. There is no official successor to the 918 Spyder in Porsche’s lineup right now, creating a gap that tuners have eagerly filled. Marc Philipp Gemballa, son of the late tuner Uwe Gemballa, entered this market with the Marisen GT. This machine is the road-focused version of the off-road Marsien, which TopGear.com drove exclusively earlier this year.
Power comes from a RUF-tuned twin-turbo flat-six engine. Every buyer of the base Marsien chose to upgrade the output to 830hp. The Marisen GT starts at this level. Marc tells TopGear.com that an upgrade to 900hp is already in development. The standard output allows for a 0-62mph sprint in 2.4 seconds and a top speed of 205mph. The company avoids making grand claims about downforce or track lap times, focusing instead on the car’s useability on the road.
Interior details and pricing
Conversion requires a donor 992.1 Turbo. Ideally, buyers use a standard Turbo S coupe, avoiding the complicated e-turbos found in the current model. This decision means the Marisen GT retains some features absent from the newer cars. Buyers get a physical rev counter and a twisty engine starter button. The center console is angled more steeply than in a standard 911, paying homage to the central bridges found in the Carrera GT and 918 Spyder.
The gear selector is replaced by a manual-style lever that resembles the one in the Carrera GT. The company adds suede trim to the console to replace Porsche’s cheap piano-black plastic. The Marisen GT also replaces the pop-out door handles with flush ones. These design choices align with the aesthetic of the GT3 RS and the 911 S/T.
Despite the extensive custom work, the Marisen GT sits in a relatively reasonable price bracket for this category of vehicle. The conversion fee alone is €770,000, or roughly £650,000. This does not include taxes, the donor car, or options. A 992 Turbo S coupe starts at around £120,000. The average spend for options on the 40 off-roading Marsiens has been €227,000. When you add it all up, the total cost typically reaches a million pounds. That price point feels more like a bespoke project car than the asking price of a pure hypercar.
The Marisen GT offers performance that rivals high-performance muscle cars like the Dodge Charger Super Bee, proving that modern tuning can produce vehicles capable of delivering thrilling power on the open road.
