Porsche 911 Dakar confirmed

Porsche has officially confirmed that the all-terrain 911 Dakar will premiere on November 16 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Inspired by and named after Porsche's 1984 victory in the famous Paris-Dakar Rally with a specially modified 911, the new 911 Dakar features a height-adjustable suspension that helps it cross uneven surfaces.

Porsche has not yet announced the technical details of the new car, since in the announcement it first of all highlights the exhausting field tests to which the prototypes were subjected in all conditions, from sand to snow.

Project general manager Achim Lamparter claims the development team covered more than 500,000 km, including 10,000 km off-road to fine-tune the chassis. Some of those kilometers were covered in Dubai and Morocco where test drivers attacked dunes of 50 m in temperatures of up to 45 C, while others were tested on the frozen lakes of Arjeplog in Sweden.

Porsche engineers also tested their prototypes at the Chateau de Lastours circuit in southern France, where Dakar Rally teams test their vehicles on wide, cobbled tracks.

"This car is incredibly fun to drive," says Porsche ambassador and former rally champion, Walter Rohrl. "Everything works so precisely and calmly. No Porsche customer will believe all the things you can do with this car before they drive it themselves.”

Development driver Lars Kern claims that the 911 Dakar quickly won him over with its performance. "At first I didn't have the guts to push the car to the limit," says Kern. "Even the ABS is optimized for braking on gravel. It's amazing how much grip off-road tires provide. The car is great to drive.”