These days, special-branded wristwatches and attaché cases that match your luxury sports car are so ubiquitous they’re downright common. Any quick Google search returns dozens of such pairings.
It’s rather less common to match your airplane to your car.
But like $46,000 branded picnic baskets, there’s apparently an appetite for such a thing: Embraer is working with Porsche to create 10 pairs of matching Embraer Phenom 300E aircraft and Porsche 911 Turbo S cars. Each set, or “Duet,” starts just below $11 million and will take more than a year to complete.
It’s all about a “seamless transition” of road to sky, says Boris Apenbrink, the director of Porsche’s internal Exclusive Manufaktur department, during a video call about the collaboration. “The jet is meant to be piloted by the owner himself, and we also wanted the car that was the most fun to drive itself.”
“This is about making dreams come true for our customers,” he continues. And yes, it’s a bit of stunt marketing in the process.
Branding for Billionaires
Branding exercises among luxury companies are nothing new. Automakers have long partnered with upscale companies—yacht brands, mechanical watchmakers, upscale speaker companies—to share design knowledge and extend their technical and market reach, even if the announced products never reach production.
Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Mercedes-Benz have been especially active in the marine segment, creating high-speed cigarette boats, luxury yachts, and even submarines for decades.
It’s rarer for an automaker to go the friendly skies route—a project that has been in the works for four years, according to Jay Beever, the vice president of interior design for Embraer.
The German carmaker was a natural partner for the São Paulo-based company to choose, he says, considering its longstanding connection to aviation. Ferdinand Porsche himself was making aircraft engines as early as 1908, Beever says, and “the Type 64 was also inspired by aerospace,” he continues, referring to the infamous, spaceship-looking vehicle created in 1939.
This is the first time the two companies have completed a project together, though representatives from both sides declined to say it would be the last. “Getting involved in airplane or cockpit design, that would maybe be a next step toward the future,” Apenbrink says.