You can now make your Porsche 911 (992) Targa even more retro with the Heritage Design Edition

By topgear, 02 June 2020

The Porsche 911 Targa is already a fairly retro-looking thing. But not retro enough for some, it seems.

Which explains why 992 people are being given a chance to make their brand new Targa look several decades older, while spending more. Strange logic, you might argue.

But even beaten-down old cynics like us are a sucker for paint as delightful as the Cherry Metallic offered exclusively on this 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition.

You can have other colours too, if you wish, but why would you? It looks like a car-shaped Cherry Drop, and we kinda love it.

At present, there's a single car allocated to Singapore, with retail price starting from S$813,888 before COE and options - which is comfortably in 991.2 GT3/GT3 RS money.

The red and cream interior is more reminiscent of rhubarb and custard sweets, meanwhile, and is perhaps less successful. Worry not, there are different options in here too.

Heritage Design is a new branch of Porsche, we’re told, with last year’s stickered-up 911 Speedster merely a prototype for the idea. This Targa is the first of four we’ll see in the next few years, each nodding to a different era, beginning with the 1950s and early ’60s.

(Click HERE to read our First Drive of the 991 Targa 4S and the re-introduction of the fabric roof)

As well as those Starsky and Hutch-esque white spears down the front fenders, there’s a swathe of retro badging to enjoy, including Porsche’s 1963 crest in place of its (very similar) modern-day equivalent.

The Porsche Heritage badge on the rear deck is similar to the one awarded to Porsche 356 customers who racked up 100,000km.

The good news for market speculators is that you don’t have to accrue even a single kilometre to earn it here.

A further nod to the original Porsche sportscar comes from the corduroy used on the seats and door trims, which “signals the return of a material already used in the Porsche 356, reviving the zeitgeist and fashion of the 1950s,” we’re told.

Luckily the powertrain doesn’t hark back to the ’50s, this car available solely in Targa 4S trim. Which means 450hp, a 304km/h top speed and 0-100km/h in 3.6secs. You’ve a choice of 8spd auto or 6spd manual gearboxes.

(I'm sure there'll be a Targa 4 GTS at some point... click HERE for our drive in the 991.2 Targa 4 GTS)

“No brand can translate these elements into the modern day as well as Porsche,” says company chairman Oliver Blume.

“With the exclusive special editions, we are also establishing a new product line which stands for the ‘lifestyle’ dimension in our product strategy.” If there were any doubt this isn’t a Porsche you’ll spot cooking its brakes on a Touristenfahrten, his words kill it stone dead.

And then there’s the price. The regular Targa 4S starts from around S$650k before options and COE, and the Heritage Design Edition adds a premium of almost S$165k (for what it's worth, the HDE's starting price already includes some decent options) to this   – and that doesn’t include the matching Porsche Design watch. It’s available only to buyers of the car, but will add another S$17k to the price if you actually want it. Yikes.

“We are limiting these editions,” Blume told Top Gear. “We will do a ’60s edition later - and a 70s and 80s - all with state-of-the-art technology. We’ll do 992 of the 50s edition, out of 30,000 911s a year. It’s for collectors and fans. Some will go for all four. We will launch them in round about a yearly rhythm.”

Will Porsche do a heritage 718? “We haven’t decided yet. It might be a good idea. We’re waiting for feedback from our customers.”

STORY Stephen Dobie

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