Ever since the mid-2000's Porsche has been doing exceedingly well. From Motorsport to marketing to sales it seems like the band from Stuttgart can do no wrong. In fact, since around 2010, Porsche has broken its own sales records every single year, and they did the same this past full-length year as well.
But even for a company associated with such class as Porsche, mistakes will be made, and some decisions may fall flat. This is the story of the 911R.
The Curse Begins
Back in the late 1960s, Porsche wanted to join other European manufacturers in racing. Porsche's intention was to take a 911, make it racier, and stick it onto unsuspecting Ferrari race car drivers. Although there was one special caveat regarding the GT class specifically, they had to homologate the race cars.
This meant Porsche had to sell 500 road-going versions of their race car, and thus the 911R was born... Then no one bought it.
An embarrassing run of 20 cars were produced and sold as special edition 911s to the few brave people who ordered them. After that, the 911R was killed and the Carrera RS 2.7 would replace it as the cool, homologation 911 in 1973. Then, long story short, Porsche went on to dominate Group 4 racing with the RSR (the race version of the RS 2.7) and we would have to wait 50 years for the next 911R.
The 2016 Porsche 911R
The 911R came out in 2016 as a limited production 911 that would follow a classic recipe of Porsche Motorsport- light and precise. Touting the GT3's 4.0 liter 500hp flat 6 and just 3021 lbs, it was an absolute dart. The beloved 6-speed manual gearbox is standard in the car as well, solidifying the car's attitude towards driving.
And what might that be? Well, as was stated previously, the 2016 car's goal was to emulate the purity of the first 911R and create nothing more than a complete driving experience. Combining their best road engine, manual tranny, light weight, and gorgeous interior, the 911R was in a league of its own judging based on a classic driving experience.
The lack of sound deadening gave the driver access to sounds that were lost in the 911 catalog decades ago. The transmission gears lashing, intake cracking open, and of course the incredible shout of 8500 rpm right behind your neck.
The Bad And The Ugly
You wouldn't be surprised if I told you that the 2016 911R was sold out completely before a single car rolled off the production line right? You shouldn't be because Porsche always sells out every special edition 911 and they did the same with the 911R. But therein lies the mistake. Porsche only decided to sell 500 of the Rs because the management teams doubted its success before production even started.
Andreas Preuninger, head of the Porsche GT division at the time, was fighting with the marketing teams because he wanted to sell 5000 911R units, and he knew he could. They wouldn't let him build them though, and kept their sights set on 500. But then, they spoke with all of their existing 918 Spyder clients and things started to change.
They wanted to sell to their loyal customers who bought their next-gen hypercar and darn near sold all 500 of the 911Rs. But Porsche realized they had already taken orders for the R before they were built and wouldn't have enough cars to fulfill the demand. So, they looked high and low for a "reason" to build more and came up with the holy number of 991, which represents the cars chassis code.
Oops is right. Porsche had to bite their tongue and finally listen to Andreas Preuninger in the end because he knew how phenomenal the car was, and how well it would sell. If there is a lesson here for performance brands, it is that the engineer is usually right, and especially the guy who built a car like the 911R.
Source: MotorTrend