High-flying combo: Buy private jet, get matching Porsche 911 Turbo S for free

These days, special-brandedwristwatches andattaché cases thatmatch 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 airplaneto 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 aircraftand 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 ofPorsche’s internal Exclusive Manufakturdepartment, during a videocall 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’sa bit of stunt marketing inthe process.

Branding for Billionaires

Branding exercises among luxury companies are nothing new. Automakers have long partnered with upscalecompanies—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 carmakerwas a natural partner for the Sao Paulo-based company to choose, he says, considering its longstanding connection to aviation. Ferdinand Porsche himself was making aircraft engines as early as 1908, Beeversays, and “the Type 64 was also inspired by aerospace," he continues, referring to the infamous,spaceship-lookingvehiclecreated 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.

All in the Details

The collaboration does not extend to any shared mechanics or engineering that link the 640-hp sports car and thePhenom 300E jet, which can cruise up to mach 0.8 with a2,010 nm range.Instead, it’s a cosmetic duet.

There’s a matching gloss and satin-gloss combinationof paintwork unique to the collaboration, with upper parts of each conveyance painted a Platinum Silver Metallic that transitions to Jet Grey Metallic at the bottom;atrimlinein Brilliant Chrome and Speed Blue divides the two tones. The car’s air intakes are alsopainted in Brilliant Chrome to match the leading edge nacelles of the plane.

Seats in each vehicle feature red pull straps with a Speed Blue accent stitch and carbon-fiber trim, while thesteering wheel design mimics the aircraft’s yoke. Andin a nod to the interior of the plane,the 911 will have the onlychalk-colored Alcantara roof lining available from Porsche; most linings insidemodern Porsches are black.

Elsewhere, the door sill trims have“No Step" lettering that matches the same text on an aircraft wing, andthe LED door projectors illuminatethe “Duet" logo on the ground, which each customer has the option to customize in order to mark each conveyance astheir own. The aircraft registration number appears on both the car’s rear wing and key.

These are thetiniest of details, sure, but it’s the same status branding behind paint jobs that create 13% price bumps on $373,000 Rolls-Royces.In elite circles, thesecan make for a good investment in the long run.

A private jet sounds much better than wristwatch and luggage pairings, although each Duet comes with those, too. Deliveries begin in late 2021.