Porsche Secrets From the Man Who Designed the 981, Carrera GT & Cayenne

Most Porsche owners know the cars. Very few ever get to hear how the decisions behind them were actually made.

My guest this week is Hugh Robinson, the former Porsche designer who spent 15 years inside Porsche during one of the most important periods in the company's modern history.

Hugh helped bring the original Cayenne interior to production, worked on the production interior of the Carrera GT, and created the design that became the 981 Boxster and Cayman.

And he has some stories.

We get into the internal decisions, arguments, compromises and engineering problems that shaped cars many of us now have sitting in our garages.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why Porsche believed in the Cayenne when many enthusiasts thought it would destroy the company

• How the Cayenne helped give Porsche the money and confidence to build cars like the GT3 and GT4

• Why Hugh thought Porsche should take the Cayenne racing at Dakar

• The real reason the Carrera GT was created alongside the Cayenne

• How the Carrera GT's famous high-mounted wooden shifter almost disappeared from the production car

• The engineering work required to save that shifter

• Why the 918 Spyder needed to debut before the 981 Boxster and Cayman

• Why Hugh deliberately wanted the 981 to stop looking like a smaller 911

• The single design decision that gave Hugh enough freedom to completely change the 981's shape

• What Hugh wanted on the 981 that Porsche would not approve

• Why he believes the Boxster should never be considered simply the Porsche you buy when you cannot afford a 911

• Hugh's ideal version of the 981 Boxster

• The color combination he originally imagined for the 981

• His defense of the controversial 996 headlights

• Why he believes the 996 and early Boxster are finally getting the appreciation they deserve

• The one Porsche Hugh would choose if he could put anything in his garage

This is one of my favorite conversations I've had on ElevenAfterNine. If you love Porsche design, the 981 generation, Carrera GT, Cayenne, 996, or simply want to know how these cars actually went from sketches and clay models to production, I think you're going to enjoy this one.

GUEST Hugh Robinson — Porsche design, 1999–2014

indiGO Technologies: https://indigotech.com

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CHAPTERS

0:00 — Introducing Hugh Robinson

0:47 — Joining Porsche in 1999: 1,500 people, three body styles

4:20 — Finishing the E1 Cayenne interior with VW

6:05 — "This is the car that will kill Porsche"

8:31 — Why the 356 was practical first

11:51 — The beer case is a design requirement

12:32 — The first Cayenne was a genuine off-roader

14:41 — The Dakar Cayenne that never happened

17:38 — Why the Cayenne is the reason you have a GT3

22:23 — Carrera GT: the counterweight to the Cayenne

24:07 — The production car had to match the show car

25:30 — "We're not doing another 959"

30:00 — The fight to keep the high-mounted shifter

34:11 — Making a race-car shift position actually work

37:05 — Why Porsche design is a team sport

41:26 — Why the 918 had to launch before the 981

46:00 — Designing the 981 as a junior supercar

52:44 — The Boxster is not a poor man's 911

55:20 — The one thing he lost on the 981

56:44 — The design competition: twelve models down to two

1:00:53 — The door skin trade and the roof gap

1:09:09 — Cabriolet roofs, the 991, and Targas

1:17:46 — The 981 Speedster humps

1:19:37 — The right color for a Porsche

1:22:40 — The 996 "runny egg" headlights, defended

1:34:37 — The underdog Porsches about to have their day

1:37:38 — One Porsche in his garage

1:44:00 — What he's building now at indiGO Technologies

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