Porsche Design has reached the half-century mark, and as a way of celebrating, a limited-edition Porsche 911 Targa model will be released in 2022.
You’ll need to be quick to secure a 911 Edition 50Y Porsche Design, however, as only 750 examples will be offered worldwide. Porsche Australia says a limited number of this allocation will head down under – arriving in the middle of 2022.
So what separates the Edition 50Y Porsche Design from the ‘regular’ 911 Targa 4 GTS it’s based on? In addition to an all-black exterior, the interior takes several nods from the past including black and white checked ‘Sport-tex’ cloth centre seat panels and a red second hand in the Sport Chrono clock, which is standard. The headrests feature an embossed ‘Porsche Design 50th Anniversary’ logo.
The Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS is the basis for the 50Y special edition car
Priced from $426,900 (before on-road costs) in Australia, this special-edition 911 Targa was inspired by the same colours used on the Chronograph 1 watch that Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche designed back in 1972, hence the emphasis on black inside and out.
Wheels are from the current 911 Turbo S and are staggered in diameter – 20-inch at the front and 21-inch at the rear. Brake calipers have been painted black to match the exterior.
If you were hoping for additional performance thrills, this special edition is perhaps not for you, though given the 911 Targa 4 GTS already produces 353kW of power and 570Nm of torque – good for a 0-100km/h time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 307km/h when fitted with an eight-speed PDK transmission – that should be plenty indeed. Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) is standard on the Targa 4 GTS.
Sport-tex cloth mixed with leather harks back to the interior of the old car
Edition 50Y Porsche Design buyers will also be invited to purchase a new edition of the legendary Chronograph 1 watch that is also a limited-production piece.
Along with the new car and watch, Porsche Design has been hard at work over the last two years restoring a 1972 Porsche 911 T 2.4, which was initially in poor condition but has been nurtured back to life.
The Targa has been fully restored with its engine and chassis now to S specification. The original T Targa 2.4 produced 141kW of power back when it first rolled off the assembly line. .
Plenty of 50th Anniversary trim can be found around the cabin
Porsche Museum anniversary exhibition
The Porsche Museum will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Porsche Design with a special exhibition opening today (January 19) and running until 11 July 2022.
Featuring information on the life of Ferdinand Porsche, his design philosophy and his creative influence, museum exhibits will span the five decades since the inception of Porsche Design and will display many product ranges from that period.
Porsche 911 Turbo S wheels sit in front of performance calipers and discs
This will include two versions of the legendary Chronograph 1 timepiece forming the centrepiece of the exhibition, as well as P8478 aviator sunglasses, the Monobloc Actuator chronotimer series with fully integrated stopwatch pushers, as well as the P3613 tobacco pipe and the P9521 mobile phone.
Items on display on the balcony of the Porsche Museum include the 993 Speedster owned by Ferdinand Porsche himself, as well as the 904 that he described as his masterpiece.
The 1972 Porsche 911 S 2.4 Targa restored by Porsche Classic and the new 911 Edition 50Y Porsche Design will also form part of the 50th Anniversary exhibition.
