The Porsche 597 Jagdwagen (hunting car) is a light military vehicle, designed to fill the same general role as the Jeep, Kübelwagen and Land-Rover.

[1] Originally developed as a prototype for a tender to the German Army after World War II, the car never reached mass production after the DKW Munga was chosen over it for reasons of economics.

[4] The monocoque shell came with no doors and high sills, meaning passengers needed to climb over them to enter and exit the vehicle; The upside of this design being that the body was buoyant and amphibious.

Instead the Auto-Union-built DKW Munga model won out for its relative simplicity, lower cost and Auto Union's ability to meet the Army's demand.

In August 1959, there were still hopes within the Porsche company to produce an updated vehicle based on the 597 platform with a strengthened chassis, extended wheelbase of 2,400mm that could be made available in five different body-styles.