- The 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar is named just after the famed Dakar Rally, but at first it was likely to be identified as the 911 Safari.
- Indian automaker Tata Motors retains the copyrights to the Safari title and refused to let Porsche use it.
- To use the Dakar title, Porsche needed authorization from the organizers of the Dakar Rally and had to pay an undisclosed sum for the rights.
Porsche naming its new off-street-oriented 911 soon after the Dakar Rally would make perception. Right after all, it’s just one of the most famous motorsport functions. What some people today might not know, nevertheless, is that the 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar was practically named the 911 Safari. That is until finally it wasn’t.
The Title Game
Given that its inception in 1978, the Dakar Rally has garnered a standing for remaining exceptionally demanding on cars and their drivers. Choose 60-yr-previous Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Sr. for occasion. This yr, he received a stage, experienced a tire ripped from his car or truck, and sooner or later went on to fracture his backbone in a flip. Nonetheless, back in 1984, Porsche managed to get the rally outright with a 911—adding a touch of organization historical past to the name.
Regardless of all that, Dakar was not Porsche’s initially naming selection. Rather, the enterprise originally desired to simply call it the 911 Safari, according to Edmunds. Regretably, the Safari title was not out there, as it continues to be locked driving a copyright owned by Indian carmaker Tata, which generates an SUV known as the Safari.
“We talked to them [Tata],” 911 Dakar method director Thomas Krickelberg instructed Edmunds. “But they didn’t give us authorization for that. That was option A. And then we switched to Dakar.”
A Bumpy Journey
With the Safari title out of the running, Porsche was remaining to lookup for other, equally stirring titles. That’s when Porsche landed on Dakar. Nonetheless, in a further unlucky flip of activities, that moniker was also taken. So, the German automaker experienced to leap as a result of some hoops.
In get to use the Dakar name, Porsche experienced to get permission from the organizers of the Dakar Rally (the Amaury Activity Business or ASO), which owns the rights to it in an automotive context. Porsche then experienced to pay back the corporation an undisclosed amount of money of money so it could borrow the title. That is when the Porsche 911 Dakar was born.
“Then it was easy,” Krickelberg joked to Edmunds.
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