As a concept, ‘off-road Supercars’ really shouldn’t work at all – many car enthusiasts see the idea as sacrilege. Why design a beautiful, sleek sports car then make it drive over rocky hills and muddy fields? But it’s a project that major auto manufacturers have been on top of for a good time now; offering drivers luxury in the dirt with a dream car. There’s a new kind of supercar on the road – or rather off-the-road – competing with the SUV 4x4s that have been taking pole position on the dirt-track for years. Two of the biggest sports car manufacturers each produced a car that performs like the toughest jeep on the rough and still looks fabulous when covered with mud.
Combining Performance and Ruggedness
It’s an equation that never seemed likely to be solved. The supercar was designed for speed, driving dynamics, ultimate road-holding, braking, good looks and performance, while the off road vehicle was engineered for competence in demanding conditions, with emphasis on rugged construction, heavy-duty components, grip on loose surfaces, conquering jungles, and jumping sand dunes. It wasn’t so much of a surprise that the two extremes were never brought together successfully.
That was until designers and engineers at both Porsche and Lamborghini did the seemingly unthinkable and brought out models that brought those opposing elements together in a complete game-changer for the off-road market. Thanks to modern technology, advanced construction, and the latest suspension techniques, both companies created an astonishing machine with the looks of a supercar but the capabilities of a desert runner.
So what models have expanded the concept of the sports car, providing off-road fans with the elegance and sophistication that their previous rugged machines lacked?
Porsche 911 Dakar
Porsche has history in the off-road supercar category, having rallied its most iconic model for most of its life, with great success. The Dakar celebrates Porsche’s escapades in the famous Paris-Dakar Rally, which it won twice, in 1984 and 1986. Such impressive off-road racing heritage is quite unique in the sportscar world, and it was too inspiring to ignore. In order to keep the 911 fresh and cutting edge, Porsche decided to take inspiration from the company’s history but remaster it with brand-new technology. The 911 Dakar has completely new underpinnings, custom suspension, adjustable ride height, all-terrain tyres, and unique stability control calibration aimed at providing more slip-in off-road driving conditions. Available at around $225,000 when first put on the market in 2022, the 911 Dakar is capable of covering rugged terrain at incredible speeds of up to 149 mph.
Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato
This development in the Lamborghini camp wasn’t without precedent either. In the mid-1980s, Lamborghini shocked the world with the big, expensive, and fast LM002, the predecessor of modern high-performance SUVs. Fast forward nearly 40 years, and Lamborghini took the supercar concept to the next level with the introduction of the amazing Huracan Sterrato. Named after the Italian word for dirt or unpaved road, this Huracan variant is specially engineered for such use, featuring all-new suspension, wheels, and tyres. The driving modes and stability systems are specially designed to be used in this model, so it’s to be expected that the Sterrato drives differently than any other Lamborghini but can still hit a speed of 160 mph. Retailing at $325,000 when it became available in 2023, the company announced that it would only be making 1,500 examples of this unique off-road supercar, making it significantly rarer than the Porsche 911 Dakar.
Marc Philip Gemballa ‘Marsien’
The Ultimate Adventure Sportscar, or so they say. With a direct family connection to Porsche, Gemballa’s Marsien is an extreme tribute to the mad 953 and 959 Dakar monsters that Porsche campaigned in the 1980s, with bespoke bodywork over a 911 Turbo base and using RUF power. Purists have stated a preference for this over the Dakar. More than two years of development resulted in the young Gambella’s first project - an ultra-modern designed supercar that forms a hybrid between a contemporary sports car, complete with all its comfort and day-to-day practicality, and the off-road capabilities enabling the ultimate driving experience featuring the latest cutting-edge technologies.
Aixam Mega Track
Perhaps the original available-to-all off-road supercar, this model was launched nearly 30 years ago, in 1995, and was far ahead of time. This French mutant teamed air suspension with over 330mm of ground clearance with a 6.0-litre Mercedes-borrowed V12 engine. The problem was the power it had sometimes struggled to move the 2.2 tonnes of car, so it could sink into the terrain you had set out to conquer. Still, as ambitious supercars go the Mega Track is one noble trailblazer. Less than 20 were sold in five years from 1995, meaning it’s a whole lot rarer than the new Lamborghini and Porsche.
Prodrive Hunter
Looking more like the Batmobile from the Christopher Nolan trilogy, the Hunter is described as an ‘All Terrain Hypercar’. Prodrive knows a thing or two about rallying, and what better civilian off-road supercar than one based on Prodrive’s Dakar-attacking machine? The Hunter is the product of over 40 years of successful off-road competition at Prodrive – they call it an ‘everyday’ off-road hypercar that can tackle the roughest terrain at ‘unimaginable’ speed. It’s actually clocked 186 mph at full speed and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under four seconds. But that kind of dirt-track power comes at a predictably hefty price – at least £1.25 million.
With Porsche and Lamborghini leading the way, it seems obvious that the off-road supercar market still has many twists and turns ahead with the inevitable development of more powerful yet beautiful machines still to come. In a field where design and engineering looks to meet a perfect balance, the cost is always going to be sky-high. But for the serious off-road enthusiasts, it’s worth paying for the best suspension that money can buy when you want to show off your sleek new wheels on top of a craggy hillside.
