Usually, the renderings we show are presented as pure works of fiction with no hope of ever seeing production. The high-speed Porsche 911 you see at the top of the page is a render, and yes, it is unofficial. This time it is, however very likely you will see this car on the road one day.
Motor.es gave us the nod to this rendering, which shows a brand new 911 Safari coming straight from the Porsche factory in Stuttgart. Sure, the automotive world is well acquainted with off-road-friendly 911s, but they generally come from aftermarket conversions, racing applications, or one-off builds like the Safari 911 Porsche built in 2012. Recent spy footage of disbanded 911 test vehicles at the Nürburgring tells us that this will not be another one-off creation. In fact, this rendering is based on those spy photos.
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As such, this 911 Safari view doesn’t just add ground clearance and wheel clearance. We’ve seen several fore and aft boards designed to provide better approach and departure angles, and that’s pictured here on the back. The license plate slides up, similar to what you get on a 911 Turbo, but the bumper doesn’t come with the Turbo’s aerodynamic items. It’s a bit shallower, and if you look at the wheel arches, you can see a rubber trim to help protect against damage. We see the same features on real-life 911 Safari test cars.
What will the 911 Safari power? That information is still a mystery, although we don’t expect the insane power you will get from the 911 Turbo. The Carrera 4S’s 443 hp turbocharged six-cylinder engine combined with four-wheel drive would create an exceptionally fast vehicle to tackle loose surfaces. Even with four-wheel drive and a good set of gravel rally tires, such a beast would be an absolute handful to keep under control. We are cool with that.
So now the waiting game begins. We haven’t had many encounters with real-life 911 Safari prototypes, and given Porsche’s long public evaluation time, it may not see the light until 2022. If this rendering is indicative of the final product, then it’s worth the wait.