Motoring

Icons of Porsche

by: BTM - Wed, 10 Dec 2025

Kristian Harrison attended the incredible Icons of Porsche 2025 in Dubai, witnessing a compelling showcase of heritage models, contemporary installations and innovation.

Walking into Dubai Design District for Icons of Porsche 2025, I felt like I had stepped into a living love letter to the brand. For years I had seen images and heard stories about the festival, yet nothing really prepares you for the moment the skyline, the lights and hundreds of Porsches of every era come into view. This was the fifth edition of Icons of Porsche, now firmly established as the Middle East’s largest Porsche gathering, and you could feel the excitement in every corner of the site.

Mission: Future Heritage
From early air-cooled 911s to modern GT cars and track weapons, more than 30,000 visitors witnessed the awesome showcase of one of the motoring world’s most iconic brands. Under the theme ‘Mission: Future Heritage’, this year paid tribute to milestones such as 60 years of the 911 Targa, 25 years of the Carrera GT and key anniversaries in regional motorsport, including Porsche 911 Cup racing in the Middle East.

What struck me first was the sheer density of detail. One moment I was nose to nose with museum cars flown in from Stuttgart, the next I was admiring one-off creations from the Exclusive Manufaktur and Sonderwunsch personalisation programmes.

Art installations threaded between the cars, from sculptural interpretations of iconic silhouettes to vibrant graffiti walls alive with colour. Families sprawled across shaded community spaces, children queued for the E-Sports arena and sim rigs, while live DJs and bands gave the whole event the feel of a festival rather than a traditional car show.

Centre stage for the Cayenne Electric
As unforgettable as the classic metal was, the gravitational centre of Icons of Porsche 2025 was unquestionably the new Cayenne Electric. This year’s festival had been framed around its physical debut, arriving in Dubai just days after a global digital premiere and marking the first public appearance of Porsche’s second all-electric SUV.

The Cayenne has always been about blending performance, practicality and the ability to leave the tarmac behind, but the Electric pushes that philosophy into a new era. Porsche engineers had already proven it in the dunes of the Arabian Desert, where prototypes surfed steep sand slopes in searing heat, demonstrating that E-Performance is fully compatible with serious off-road work.

Up close, I was struck by how clean and muscular the design looks in the flesh. The proportions are unmistakably Cayenne, yet there is a tautness to the surfaces that hints at the immense power available. Inside, the cabin showcases Porsche’s latest thinking on digital yet driver-focused interiors, with crisp displays and high-quality materials that still feel reassuringly familiar.

Art and automotive displays at Porsche festival

What really underpins the Cayenne Electric story is choice. Globally, the car launches as the most customisable Cayenne yet, with a broad palette of standard colours, multiple wheel designs and interior combinations before you even touch Paint to Sample or Sonderwunsch.

I kept circling back to the stand, watching enthusiasts pore over the details, debating specs and snapping photos from every angle. Icons of Porsche has always been about celebrating heritage, yet this year it felt just as much about the next chapter.