The 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar debuted in November. It broke cover at the Los Angeles Auto Show wearing a rad two-tone white and blue metallic paint scheme reminiscent of Porsche’s 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally winner. The livery is an available option for the car, but it won’t be the only way to honor the company’s rallying past. The automaker will offer wraps that reprise the look of its 1971, 1974, and 1978 East African Safari Rally entrants.
The Rallye 1971 pack honors the company’s fifth-place finish when it entered the rally for the first time with a works team. The original Porsche race car stood out with only a pair of black decals on the hood. The new livery dresses up the car in the same way, adding the number 19 to the doors and the Porsche branding. The decal set costs $5,260.
Gallery: 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar With Historic Rally Liveries
The Rallye 1974 decal set costs the same, and gives the coupe thick black stripes with narrower blue ones underneath it. They run down the sides of the car – from the headlights to the rear fenders.
The final decal set resurrects Porsche’s liquid-looking 1978 Martini livery for the modern era. The orange waves of light and navy blue look superb on the Dakar. Porsche adds the number 14 to the doors. This decal set is only available as an option from the factory. It’s also the priciest at $7,510, but it adds a lot more style than the other two.
Powering the 911 Dakar is the company’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-six engine. It makes 473 horsepower (353 kilowatts), sending the coupe to 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour) in 3.2 seconds. It has a 150-mph (241-kph) top speed. Porsche channels all that power through its eight-speed PDK gearbox to all four wheels.
Porsche will build just 2,500 Dakars, but its success could lead to more – and hopefully cheaper – high-riding 911s in the future. The 911 Dakar will go on sale this spring in the US with a $223,450 starting price, which includes the destination charge. The price tag can exceed $270,000 with all the boxes ticked. Customers can buy all three decal sets from the factory or the 1971 and 1974 sets later through authorized Porsche dealerships.
