For years there was speculation about an off-road version of the Porsche 911. When the first prototypes of the model variant were finally spotted, fans and the trade press alike went completely berserk. Right from the start, the additional designation Safari was circulated for the off-road 911, after Porsche had already presented the first prototype with this designation in 2012. But with the presentation of the production version exactly ten years later, the Safari designation suddenly disappeared and was replaced instead by the name Dakar, which refers to the legendary desert race to the capital of Senegal. Now Porsche has, for the first time, provided insight into how this thoroughly curious name change came about for the off-road version of the 911. And this much can already be revealed at this point — the trail doesn't lead to Africa, but to India.
Sorry Porsche, Tata Motors India Owns The Rights To The "Safari," Not The 911
According to an interview with Edmunds, Porsche actually wanted to christen the long-awaited off-road variant of the 911 "Safari" like the concept car from 2012. In the course of further product development, however, Porsche discovered that the name was already copyrighted by Tata Motors. The Indian car manufacturer produces an SUV for the domestic market under this name. Normally, such situations result in a so-called "gentlemen's agreement", in which it is not uncommon for the use of the name rights to change hands in exchange for an unspecified sum of cash. But unfortunately, that was not the case here.
According to Thomas Krickelberg, head of the 911 Dakar program, Porsche had spoken with Tata, but the Indian car manufacturer simply refused to allow the sports car manufacturer to use the name. However, the interview does not reveal whether Porsche had offered money in return for it. According to the head of the 911 Dakar program, Porsche subsequently left it at Option A and instead considered another, well-known name.
Porsche Pays Undisclosed Sum For 911 "Dakar" Name
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In its second attempt, the German sports car manufacturer finally landed on the name Dakar. This name is used for the legendary rally to the capital of Senegal that Porsche won at its first staging in 1984. Even though the rally is now mostly held at other locations around the world that have little to do with the original venue apart from the desert terrain, the name still remained. Accordingly, this name was also already legally protected, which is why Porsche had to enter into negotiations about licensing again.
The contact this time was the organizers of the Dakar Rally — the Amaury Sport Organization — who own the rights to the name "Dakar" in relation to the automotive industry. In this case, the negotiations finally came to a breakthrough, which is why the off-road 911 is now called "Dakar," and the rally organizers have become richer by an unspecified sum from Porsche. All in all, a win-win situation for both sides. After all, Porsche certainly wanted to bring the issue to a satisfactory conclusion as quickly as possible. And this is the Dakar name, after all.