Exclusive: Porsche Not Happy With Singer Design’s ACS, Car Pulled Off Website

Singer Vehicle Design has removed its ACS off-road 911 from its official website and Facebook page after Porsche complained about the large ‘Porsche’ lettering on the privately commissioned car.

Singer’s ACS (All-terrain Competition Study) was released to huge international acclaim in January, winning fans all over the world, but then, as we noticed last week, it mysteriously disappeared from the company’s website and Facebook page.

Porsche’s legal department was less than excited about its name appearing on the jacked-up 911 and asked Singer to pull all media of the car until the situation was rectified.

Porsche was in a tricky situation. Being seen to come over all heavy with a small operation with a huge global following like Singer could potentially generate bad PR for the German company. But it had to protect its brand name and asked Singer to withdraw the car until the branding issues were fixed.

Related: Singer Built Two Specially Commissioned Safari-Style 911 Rally Racers

We talked to a Porsche representative who offered CarScoops the following statement:

‘We are glad to have a growing community of Porsche enthusiasts. They help us to ensure that so many Porsche cars originally built decades ago remain on the road and are still being enjoyed. At the same time, we have a responsibility to out customers to ensure that Porsche products – designed and engineered by us – can be clearly and easily identified. This can range from an individual component or piece of clothing using our name through to whole cars. We do this by allowing only products created or directly licensed by us to carry the Porsche name.’

We tried contacting Singer multiple times for this story but have yet to receive a comment – if and when they do respond, we will update the article. But our understanding is that the ACS will be re-photographed once the Porsche lettering has been removed (if the company did indeed take issue with both the graphic and moulded ‘Porsche’ branding) or fixed (if it’s only about the side moulds), and returned to Singer’s website. That probably isn’t a five-minute job given that the lettering beneath the doors appears to be part of the panel, rather than just a sticker.

And the ACS isn’t the only Singer to carry visible Porsche branding. Many of the company’s retro 911 conversions, and the stunning DLS, also feature Porsche lettering beneath the doors as well as the rear. As we mentioned before, it’s unclear whether this latest move by Porsche may put a permanent stop to Singer applying those graphics or if the issue at hand here was only about the ‘Porsche’ branding being moulded into the side sills instead of using plain stickers, as with other Singer models.

The ACS is a joint project between Singer Design and Porsche rally expert Richard Tuthill and takes inspiration from Porsche’s 959 and Safari 911s. It’s based on a seam-welded 964 body shell fitted with a 450bhp 3.6-liter flat six that drives all four wheels through a five-speed sequential and three limited-slip differentials.

Though the car seen here, was one of two commissioned by a wealthy Porsche fan, Singer has indicated it might build you one, too, if you have hypercar money to spend. But if you want it to wear Porsche graphics you’ll have to fit your own, or wait for the modern day Safari 911 Porsche is working on.