Jacked-up 911 Dakar shows confidence of Porsche

When I was in Los Angeles attending the launch of the Porsche 911 Carrera T (reviewed elsewhere in this issue), I also took time to attend the unveiling of the new 911 Dakar because, well, why wouldn’t you?

I’ll explain the car in detail if and when I get the chance to have a proper go in one, but suffice to say this is a jacked-up 911 with long suspension travel, up to 80mm of ground clearance, armoured undersides and approach and departure angles that compare very well to conventional off-roaders. Most tantalisingly, while most nose lift systems cut out above 30mph thanks to fear of the resulting nose up, tail down stance inducing aerodynamic instability, the Dakar’s lift system operates at both end, which means it’s safe fully extended at well over 100mph. Can you imagine what that must feel like on sand in a desert? Me neither, but I am going to try exceptionally hard to find out.

But that’s not really why I’m writing about it. More than anything else, I think the car speaks most volubly of the self-belief and confidence which bestrides the Porsche organisation right now. The sheer chutzpah in taking a low-slung coupé and giving it the go-anywhere capability of a purpose-built SUV for no reason other than that it can, is something to behold.

What is really telling is that while Porsche is limiting the number it will build, there are still going to be 2500, each retailing for £173,000, which is itself over £58,000 more than the 911 Carrera GTS upon which it is closely based. That’s a large number of expensive cars, most of which will be used as toys, many of which won’t be used at all.

And I wonder how many customers will splurge another £18,434 on the ‘Rally Design’ package which paints the car in what is to all intents and purposes Rothmans cigarette livery with roundels slapped on the side. Plenty I am sure, and here’s the point: if a Rothmans-liveried 911 (OK, technically a 953 but we won’t let that delay us here) had not gone and won the Paris-Dakar in 1984, it would never even have occurred to Porsche to do this car, let alone be able to sell so many for so much.

I find the way car manufacturers leverage their heritage fascinating, but you can’t do it if you haven’t got it. I don’t imagine René Metge was sitting there as he blasted his way through Africa thinking, “I bet this will inspire a limited-edition crossover 911 half a lifetime from now,” but if he hadn’t done that, I’d not be writing this.

“There will be three new Lancias by 2028 – one a successor to the Delta”

But having a glorious heritage is not always useful. On the contrary, it can be actively undesirable. Recently I had lunch with the head of a large car company’s public relations department wrestling with this exact problem. The manufacturer has made some wonderful cars, both for street and competition use, though you’d never know it from the machines they make today. “Our heritage is a pain, to be honest,” I was told, “serving only to remind people of the kind of cars we used to make.” My advice? Make more. I’m not sure it went down that well.

Good news is hard to find in this industry at present, but I hope the renaissance of Lancia will end up in that category. Contrary to what many think, Lancia is not a lost marque. It has survived for many years now on the thinnest of thin diets, selling the aged Ypsilon supermini in the domestic market, and with some success: in 2020 Lancia sold more Ypsilons in Italy alone than Alfa Romeo sold cars from its combined ranges in all of Europe. That said, flogging antediluvian tin boxes to hire car companies at minimal margin is a sorry state of affairs for the company that brought us the Lambda, Aprilia, Aurelia, Fulvia, Stratos, Integrale, 037, D24, D50 and many others.

But now we are told there will be three new Lancias by 2028, the first a replacement for the Ypsilon to be launched as a compact EV in 2024, the last an as yet unnamed flagship model. But it’s the one in the middle we’ll all be waiting for which will be positioned (and probably named) as a direct successor to the much-loved Delta.

All these cars will come on Stellantis platforms shared across the dizzying number of brands now owned by the conglomeration, and it will be interesting to see what Lancia does to differentiate itself from the group’s other mid-market premium brands. There’s not likely to be much in the way of added character to be found in electric motors or batteries and it’s hard to see how platform sharing will lead to a dramatically different feel either. So it will likely be the car’s styling inside and out that does the heavy lifting.

There is something else it could and must do: go rallying again. Now that Citroën has quit, the Stellantis group has no representation in the WRC so providing a perfect excuse for Lancia to put itself back on the map – and what better device with which to do it than a new Delta? It will require a change of regulations, or competition elsewhere in a series like Extreme E, but unless Lancia can make itself aspirational again, the opportunity to give the brand the rebirth it deserves will likely be lost.

A former editor of Motor Sport, Andrew splits his time between testing the latest road cars and racing (mostly) historic machinery
Follow Andrew on Twitter @Andrew_Frankel