In 1948, Ferdinand Porsche saw his entrepreneurial ambition culminate with the Type 356 – the sports car of his dreams that he built. Fast forward seven and a half decades, and the German brand is now a global automotive powerhouse. It makes gearheads dream of owning their own Porsche and introduces others to the mesmerizing world of fast and well-engineered cars. But today, the virtual world is as nearly as important as the real one. So, here's an unexpected partnership – Porsche and Microsoft's Xbox.
Porsche is celebrating 75 years of official existence. The brand's story, however, began in 1930. That's when Professor Ferdinand Porsche received an order to manufacture parts for a specific engine known as the "Hesselmann." Just six orders later, the design office had to deal with a "small-car project" meant to put every German behind the steering wheel – the Volks-Wagen (aka the folks' car). That's how the Wanderer W21/22 appeared.
A year later, "Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionen und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeuge" became an official German company and began operating in Austria. The company had projects in Stuttgart, but the mighty 356 was first built in an Austrian sawmill in Gmund. Fifteen years later, the iconic 911 was going to appear.
Today, after the Cayenne and the Macan brought the company back to profitability, Porsche is a massive entity. It creates some of the most sought-after cars, and its order books for supercars like the iconic 911 Turbo S are filled for years.
But Porsche isn't busy with just manufacturing amazing vehicles. The automaker is also bent on making its 75th anniversary a memorable one. After introducing the Mission X hypercar concept (which will most likely materialize into the 918 Spyder successor), the brand is giving those of us interested in console gaming a limited-edition Xbox Series X collection together with matching controllers. A famous Porsche race livery inspires each one, as you will see in the video below.
The six Xbox consoles remind us of the:
1970 Porsche 917 long tail with the "Hippie" livery;
1970 Porsche 917K with the Salzburg livery;
1971 Porsche 917/20 with the "Pink pig" livery;
1978 Porsche 935/78 with the Martini livery (aka the "Moby Dick);
1998 Porsche GT1 with the Mobil 1 livery;
2023 Porsche 963 with the "Butterfly" livery.
Porsche tries to remind everyone of its Le Mans racing heritage and doubles down on the rumors that it will become even more involved in international motorsport. Too bad that the F1 plans didn't work out.
Photo: Porsche
Porsche's relationship with Le Mans began in the early 1950s. Their initial attempts were not particularly successful, but in 1970, Porsche scored its first overall victory at Le Mans with the Porsche 917K. This success marked the beginning of Porsche's dominance at the event.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Porsche continued to dominate Le Mans with a series of victories and podium finishes. They achieved an unprecedented run of success with their Porsche 956 and 962 models, winning the race in consecutive years from 1981 to 1987. The combination of reliability, speed, and engineering excellence made Porsche the team to beat at Le Mans during this era.
The automaker says this will be a very limited and exclusive run, so don't hope you'll see them in stores stateside.
Pricing and availability have yet to be confirmed. We will let you know how many will be made and from where the anniversary consoles can be bought as soon as the German marque and Microsoft release more details.
Now all we need is Need for Speed to announce a new "Porsche Unleashed" game.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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