The Lamborghini Sterrato is a mixture of sports car and off-road vehicle.
FRANKFURT: Sport utility vehicle: This term usually conjures the image of a jacked-up estate car, a flatbed truck or supposed adventure vehicles, but rarely extends to include a sports car.Yet who says these sleeker vehicles aren't suited for some extra utility? David zu Elfe, a Germany-based photographer and filmmaker, has turned a Porsche 924 that's more than four decades old into a vehicle that not only drives solidly on shoddy roads, but is so useful that he can even sleep in it.
The idea of an offroad-capable sports car isn't new. In the 1980s especially, the old guard was sending its fastest models, with more ground clearance and coarse-tread tires, to rallies.
The Safari Porsche, which raced in 1984 as a 953 based on a 911, was surely one of the best known of this breed, though the Mercedes SLC of the 107 Series or the Lancia Stratos also weren't afraid of getting a little dirty and kicking up dust.
RUF has built a Rodeo with the silhouette of the 911 - initially as a one-off.
After years of only being familiar to fans, these cars are now once again making a stronger appearance.
As SUVs are becoming ever sportier, and leggy boat-like vehicles like the Aston Martin DBX or Lamborghini Urus can drive faster than sleeker rivals, the racers are preparing for payback - even though it's thus far been only in the form of a concept, one-off or idea.
Lamborghini unveiled its Sterrato concept, based on the Huracan, in 2019, transforming it into an off-road vehicle with all the ingredients of a rally car.
The Renault subsidiary Alpine is also flirting with off-road vehicles, showing off its A110 SportsX concept this year that takes a lot from the same playbook as the others - a wide body and more ground clearance turns the sleek coupe into a brawny car ready to get dirty.
The Alpine A110 SportsX concept.
However, the biggest shake-ups are happening under the roof of Porsche, with the small-series manufacturers. Tuner Ruf Automobile, for example, has turned the Rodeo on its head, giving it its own carbon body and advanced all-wheel drive.
Offroad converters Delta 4x4 have drafted a 911 concept that imagines far more ground clearance and special tyres and rims, transforming the sporty car into a vehicle made for adventure.
Both companies say that they're pleased with the unexpectedly large and positive response to their offerings, but the designs aren't likely to enter into series production anytime soon.
The concepts are getting even more wind in their sails thanks to the growing popularity of crosses involving estate cars, compact cars and even sedans. Design professor Lutz Fuegener from Germany considers such derivatives to make better SUVs.
The cost-benefit ratio is good, and the elegance and dynamics of the original concepts usually are still apparent, making the aesthetic potential much higher than for a true-blue SUV.
And no one can argue that a higher chassis makes a sports car more suitable for everyday driving. If the height could be varied, with air suspension, say, then just the extra weight would have to be balanced against the extra ground clearance.
"That's a compromise that's not noticeable as such - actually it's quite the opposite," says Fuegener. "There is and was trends in building cars that make and made far less sense."
