The latest edition of Porsche’s nine minute and eleven second video magazine(get it, 9:11?), focuses on quality in numerous forms. To Porsche, the two primary definitions of quality are driving factors behind how the brand operates. The identity of each Porsche model is wrapped up in a set of qualities which are unique. The 911, for example, is defined as much by the driving characteristics imparted on it by its drivetrain layout, as by the more practical features designed into it elsewhere- here we use “quality” in its definition which is more analogous to “attribute.” The brand is also upheld by its rigorous adherence to quality, both in terms of how products built initially, but also in terms of durability and how these attributes continue over time.
In nine minutes and eleven seconds this video addresses both definitions across five segments. The first addresses a recent milestone; the construction of the 1,000,000th 911, by addressing how this latest 911 relates to the first. In the second segment the video deals with the quality of the Porsche team preparing for Le Mans. The fourth addresses quality control, and the last a devoted owner and his million-kilometer 930.
What About Segment 3?
No, I did not miss segment three; Project Luna. Because it relates to Project 944 GTS (read part 2 here), and the 944S gets very little recognition, let’s go in to little more detail. Project Luna was a mission undertaken by Austrian Gerhard Plattner to cover the distance from the Earth to the moon (384,400km, or 240k miles) in a Porsche. He managed to cover the distance in the 944S above in just 258 days, and set three world records in the process. During this endeavor, he achieved the fastest circumnavigation of the globe in a production car. Because Plattner achieved the desired distance faster than expected, he continued to drive. By the end of the year Plattner accrued 500k kilometers in the 944. More details can be found in this 1987 piece written for VW & Porsche Magazine.
Like the Top 5 videos, this does leave us wishing for a bit more depth. Occasionally the syntax is a little odd, but the insights into Porsche are always worth the watch.