This Is the One Millionth Porsche 911

Paying homage to the 1963 original, the 1,000,000th 911 joins its more than 700,000 predecessors that are still out there today. Of all the purpose-built sports cars in the world, only the Mazda Miata and Nissan’s Z-cars have sold in higher numbers than the Porsche 911, and while great, those hardly fall into the same category as the rear-engined icon that scored over half of Porsche’s race wins . Of course the fact that Porsche sold 32,365 911s last year makes it obvious that the brand’s core model won’t ever outsell its SUVs, but the 911 remains the dream it always has been, as well as a physics-bending weapon in higher tunes.

Next to the unique driving experience, one crucial factor in the 911’s 54-year success story is the quality of the product. Porsche claims more than 70 percent of all 911s are still out there in the world, and that won’t change since their assembly workers remain the best. With the 1,000,000th car now finished, that means we have more than 700,000 911s to choose from.

To put that ratio into perspective, know that Alfa Romeo built 1,017,387 Alfasuds between 1972 and 1989, making the innovative front-engined car the brand’s best seller to date. Unfortunately, Alfa Romeo in the seventies did not use the same processes as Porsche. Instead, they built their cars out of cheap recycled Soviet steel and often stored them outside half-finished, come rain or shine. That’s why Porsche 911s have a 70-percent survival rate, while Alfasuds are probably near 0.7-percent.

While Porsche’s Zuffenhausen site prepares itself for the production of the electric Mission-E, the Irish Green 911 will be held by Porsche, going on a tour before moving into the Porsche Museum’s collection. Expect it to show up soon in the Scottish Highlands, around the Nürburgring, in the USA, China and beyond. Personally, I’d put a million miles into it.