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Most Porsche 911 Dakar owners, sadly, seem liable to park their quarter-million-dollar sports car in a climate-controlled garage and take it out on rare occasions. More miles, after, all, means a lower value. However, Dakar owner Nguyen Hoang Anh of Vietnam is the sort of pers that the true value in owning a limited-edition Porsche comes from driving it. So, he put over 20,000 miles on his by driving across much of Asia in just 75 days — a road trip impressive enough, Porsche itself set out to share his story,
The 54-year-old, who owns a logistics company, ordered his GT Silver Metallic-colored 911 Dakar brand-new from Porsche, and it was the first copy of the limited-production off-road sports car to land in his homeland of Vietnam. It doesn’t stay there for long, however; in September of 2023 — with the car bone-stock and just six weeks old — he left his garage in Ho Chi Minh City and headed north.
Together, the car and its owner (along with a couple of his friends in an SUV and a truck) traveled across China to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and back again, traversing snow and sand and experiencing temperature swings of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and elevation changes of more than 15,000 feet. Along the way, the Porsche was forced to bound along off-road myriad times as it tore through picturesque mountain ranges and desolate terrain — but the Dakar tolerated it like a champ, suffering little more than a couple flat tires and a banged-up bumper before arriving back in Ho Chi Minh City in early December.
One year later, in late 2024, Nguyen’s epic journey earned a delightful coda. As it so happened, Porsche corporate heard about his drive, and the team who created the off-road sports car wanted to talk to him about the experience. As a result, he flew to Stuttgart, where he met (and had his brain picked by) Achim Lamparter, the general project manager for the 911 Dakar.
Nguyen likely own the highest mileage Dakar in the world right now, and he apparently has no plans of slowing down: he says he plans to complete a road trip from Vietnam to Stuttgart in the car one day. Sure, having a minty fresh 911 Dakar in your garage must be nice — but driving it the way it was made to be driven is better.
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