Porsche marks 50 years in New Zealand with free Auckland event this weekend

Porsche is celebrating 50 years in New Zealand with a free public event featuring more than 200 cars at Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre on Sunday 20 September.

Running from 11am until 2pm, the anniversary display will bring together five decades of road and racing machinery. Entry is free and the event is open to everyone, so you don’t need to arrive in a 911 – or even own one – to get through the door.

The headline attraction is a Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 KH being flown to New Zealand from the Porsche Museum. The legendary sports racing car will be displayed alongside classics, contemporary competition vehicles and models from Porsche’s current range, including the new Cayenne Electric.

Porsche will also reveal a special anniversary 911 GT3 Touring created for New Zealand. It is one of five examples commissioned with the marque’s Sonderwunsch personalisation department, representing one car for each decade Porsche has operated here.

All five are finished in bespoke Yachting Blue and carry the signature of Sir Colin Giltrap, whose relationship with Porsche helped establish the marque in New Zealand. A pop-up store offering items from the Porsche Lifestyle range will also operate during the event.

Porsche’s official New Zealand story began in 1976, although its foundations were laid two years earlier. In 1974, Colin Giltrap reached a handshake agreement in Geneva securing the right to bring Porsche vehicles here. The first cars arrived in 1976, with the country gaining its official Porsche importer the following year.

The enthusiast community was already taking shape. Ten owners responded to a newspaper notice in 1975 and formed Porsche Club New Zealand. The club established its own racing championship in 1987, beginning an uninterrupted 25-season run that helped develop local competitors and cement Porsche’s place in the New Zealand motorsport scene.

Purpose-built Porsche racing cars began appearing on local grids during the following decade, raising the level of the club competition and giving aspiring drivers a more direct route into professional motorsport.

That pathway eventually contributed to some remarkable international results. Earl Bamber won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on debut in 2015, before returning to win again in 2017 alongside fellow New Zealander Brendon Hartley. Sir Colin, who supported both drivers during their careers, was knighted in 2012 for his services to motorsport.

Porsche’s support for emerging Kiwi talent continues through a scholarship programme established in 2019. Its recipients have included Carrera Cup champion Callum Hedge and Supercars race winners Matthew Payne and Ryan Wood, with Marco Giltrap and Tom Bewley among the latest drivers to receive backing.

The September 20 event will put that history under one roof, spanning the early cars that introduced Porsche to New Zealand, the machines that shaped its local racing story and the electric models that will carry it into its next 50 years.