When in Dubai, always expect to be mindblown! And that's exactly what happened to me at the Icons of Porsche 2025. I have seen and driven Porsches before, but it’s always just one Porsche at a time. So when I entered the Design District in Dubai on Saturday November 22, I was just speechless, in awe, and excited like a small child trying to capture pictures and videos of every car in my phone! Wherever I looked, all I could see was Porsche after Porsche – a Porsche Heaven quite literally!
It was a carnival for Porschephiles! There was something for everyone. I truly felt like I was there living my best life. With great music, iconic cars, colourful atmosphere, very tempting food and drink stalls, art shops, interactive activities to take memories back home and a lot more. Over 30,000 people showed up in two days and I had the privilege to have time to ogle at some of the most iconic Porsches ever made – all thanks to the Porsche India and Middle East team.
I knew I was in for clocking some really good numbers of walking time during these two days. Even in the scorching heat, I was out there trying to check out every car from various model lines. Yet two days were not enough! It left me wanting more time there. The vibe was such that you wouldn't want to leave. So let me take on a drive and show you my favourites from the 5th edition of the Icons of Porsche.
As soon as I entered there was the Icons Plaza with the newly unveiled Cayenne Turbo Electric right in the centre. And surrounding it were legendary Porsches like the 918 Spyder, the Paris Dakar winning 959 from 1986, an F model 911 and even a 356 Coupe. But I had my eyes stuck on the 918 Spyder. Powered by a 4.6-litre V8 with two electric motors, a combined power output of 887bhp and 1280Nm of torque it boasted a 0 to 100kmph time of an insanely quick 2.6 seconds well over a decade ago. Phew!
On either side of the Icons Plaza were the exhibits of the 911 Targa and Carrera GT. The 911 Targa celebrated 60 years of Targa and had modern Targa 911s and the vintage short wheelbase air cooled models. But the main showcase was the Labubu 911 Targa. An exclusive collaboration between Kasing Lung and Porsche. Kasing Lung is the creator of the famous Labubu dolls. The collaboration is featuring King Mon, the leader of the monsters. The life size Labubu sitting inside the 992 targa definitely caught my attention. With 60 years of Targa, only 60 of this limited edition model will be made with deliveries planned from early 2026.
The Carrera GT was celebrating a milestone – 25 years – and the event had the largest collection of these V10 manual supercars. Around 20 of them in iconic colours for the Porsche fans to look at. And on the main stage of the showcase was the 1 of 44 Carrera GT in a gorgeous Fayence Yellow shade.
I spent a lot of my time at the motorsport section, obviously! The main highlight for me was the unreal one-off road legal hypercar, the 963 RSP. It looked like it was from another planet literally. I was just starstruck. With a 4.6-litre twin-turbo V8 engine which was derived from the RS spyder LMP2 Program, I so wish I could get my hands behind the ’wheel. Right behind it was the 911 GT1 Strassenversion, yet another iconic homologation special from the Porsche Museum. Also showcased was the new 911 GT3 with a Manthey Kit that recently lapped around the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 6:52.981 minutes, beating its own time by 2.8 secs, courtesy of a few aero upgrades.
On the other side was a showcase from the Lencher Family – a 962C in the Jim Beam sponsored livery of red, white and navy blue colours. The new age Lencher racing 911GT3 Cup car and 911 GT3 R Rennsport car were also on display.
Moving to the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and Sonderwunsch section – I was just in love with the colours of the Porsches showcased over there. And I was captured ogling at one of those by the Porsche Middle East team and also made it on their instagram page *wink*. Those cars right there were living examples of how the customers can go all out under this program and ask Porsche to bring their crazy dreams come true. The main highlight in the Sonderwunsch program was a first-gen Cayenne which was recommissioned. This 16 year old SUV was brought to life keeping in mind the customer’s request of 1970s vibes. It was wearing a Blackolive paint with English Green leather and Pasha pattern in Blackolive on the seats.
The fest also had other iconic Porsche models on display like a 356 Speedster, three Sport Classic 911s, a 991 911 Speedster, and the sick 911 Dakar. Right in the centre was the large, giant inflated 911 classic which even holds a Guinness world record! In yet another section alongside the factory recommissioned Cayenne a few off roaders were parked too, like the 957s, 955s and 911s. The new all-electric Macan GTS had a very interesting installation as well, with three of them being stacked up on containers high up in the sky.
In the end for the fans, collectors, and people who visited there was a Porsche lifestyle store if they wanted to take home a merch, model cars, or memorabilia. While the kids also had a special section to keep them entertained. There was a whole section for the art collectors, with many talented artists setting up shops showcasing their unique art and a few of them where paintings live as well.
At the end of the two days at the Icons Of Porsche 2025, my heart and mind were overjoyed, but my legs definitely said otherwise. If given another opportunity to go back, I would jump right onto it.
