Porsche’s new 911 Dakar launched on the 2022 Los Angeles auto present final November was initially meant to be referred to as the 911 Safari, in line with the particular person accountable for the off-road sports activities automobile’s improvement.
In an interview with Edmunds printed final week, Thomas Krickelberg, director of the 911 Dakar program, mentioned the automobile was initially referred to as the 911 Safari in the course of the early days of improvement however Porsche needed to abandon these plans after being refused permission to make use of the identify by Tata Motors. Tata is the rights holder of the Safari identify on the subject of automotive functions and makes use of it on a mid-size SUV offered in India.
In accordance with Krickelberg, Porsche additionally wanted permission for the Dakar identify, as its rights for something automotive associated belong to the Amaury Sport Group, the organizer of the Dakar Rally. This time a deal could possibly be made.
The Safari identify comes from the East African Safari Rallies by which Porsches have been entered in the course of the Nineteen Seventies. The identify has been related to rugged 911s ever because the 1978 rally by which a 911 SC Group 4 racer was entered by Swedish rally champion Björn Waldegård, and in recent times some corporations constructing rugged variations of outdated 911s have referred to the vehicles as 911 Safaris.
2023 Porsche 911 Dakar
Equally, the Dakar identify is a nod to Porsche’s participation within the Dakar Rally, notably Porsche’s victory in its first try again in 1984 utilizing a 911-based 953 rally automobile. It was the primary time a 911 had been fitted with all-wheel drive.
In his interview with Edmunds, Krickelberg revealed that his crew was able to launch a rugged 911 in 2016, when the earlier 991 technology of the 911 was nonetheless in manufacturing. Porsche began investigating the concept as early as 2012 and constructed an idea based mostly on the 991 technology, dubbed the 911 Imaginative and prescient Safari.
In accordance with Krickelberg, the gross sales crew did not assume the challenge can be worthwhile. For the present 992 technology of the 911, the gross sales crew have been satisfied after they determined to chop again on improvement prices and enhance manufacturing from an unique plan of two,000 vehicles to 2,500 vehicles.
Ought to this system show fashionable, there could possibly be extra rugged 911s, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume mentioned final month in an interview.