The son of renowned German Porsche tuner Uwe Gemballa has founded his own eponymous company to roll out the Marsien, which flips the script on the trend towards SUVs becoming increasingly sporty by turning a sports car into an SUV.
The Marsien draws on a stronger turbo and has been visibly bulked up.
The conversion, which costs around 500,000 euros (RM2.5mil), is intended to carry the idea behind the Safari Porsche, which was very successful in rallies, into modern times in a small series of a maximum of 40 vehicles, according to the 27-year-old tuner.
The two-seater, which has also been heavily modified on the inside, is powered by the 3.7-litre six-cylinder engine of the 911 Turbo, which was refined by Porsche tuner Alois Ruf. Instead of the standard 650hp, the car is now said to produce up to 830 horses.
This enables the sports car, which like the conventional 911 Turbo is equipped with all-wheel drive as standard, to sprint from 0 to 100kph in 2.6 seconds. With road tyres, up to 330kph should be possible. But the Marsien is not really made for the road.
The highlight of the sports car is a rally chassis with hydraulic dampers that can be extended by 10cm at the push of a button - thus raising the car's ground clearance to SUV level.
