Hoax Porsche dupes press

An unusual shooting brake (estate) Porsche Cayman story has been revealed as a prank created by outgoing staff at Top Gear USA. The cleverly orchestrated hoax was undertaken by staff leaving the disbanded Top Gear USA website as a parting gift to dupe the rest of the motoring press. It seemed to work too, with many websites and newspapers running stories on the mystery Cayman.

The team who dreamt up the fake story went as far as creating 'spy' shots, a short video, screen grabs from forthcoming Xbox driving game Forza 3, and finally some 'behind the scenes' pictures at the fake car's studio photo shoot. None of it was real, with all the images and videos all created by 3D software and clever Photoshop trickery.

To ensure the story gained maximum exposure the pranksters placed links in rumour blogs, the story then growing and reaching the mainstream motoring press. Duping even their colleagues at the UK Top Gear website, the faked Cayman seemed convincing thanks to the fastidious attention to detail by its creators. Things like the taped headlamps, registration plate number and bumpers which ape those seen on genuine spy shots of the real Cayman gave the hoax car real credibility. The fact that Porsche itself has created one-off estate versions of cars like the 928, 924 and 944 added to the hoax car's believability.

So the shooting brake Cayman won't be at Frankfurt as some suggested, and that's a shame, because although it's all turned out to be an elaborate joke, we rather liked the idea of an even more practical Porsche Cayman.

Kyle Fortune