Why every RWB Porsche is built by one man, Akira Nakai

Who actually builds an RWB Porsche

Every RWB widebody Porsche in the world, whether it is parked in Los Angeles, Dubai or Tokyo, is built by one man. His name is Akira Nakai, and since he founded Rauh-Welt Begriff in a small body shop in Chiba, Japan in 1997, he has personally cut the fenders, shaped the flares and fitted the bodywork on every single car that carries the RWB name, according to CarBuzz. There is no factory line and no second technician who can do it in his place. Nakai flies to the car, or the car gets shipped to him, and he builds it there by hand with a cutting saw, a sander and an impact driver rather than a jig or a template, Driving Line reports. That is also why no two RWB cars look exactly alike even when they start from the same base Porsche.

What the name actually means

RWB stands for Rauh-Welt Begriff, German for Rough World Concept, a name Nakai took from Rauh Welt, the Chiba drift club where he was first introduced to Porsches, according to Wikipedia's entry on him. His own 930 Turbo, bought after it was damaged, became the first RWB build and he named it Stella Artois after his preferred beer, a story repeated by Indian retailer Torque Tribe, which now sells a 1:64 scale diecast replica of that same car. RWB's official site, rwb.jp, states the company builds only one RWB Porsche per customer, by rule, which is part of why the waitlist matters as much as the cheque.

What a build costs, and how long it takes

A base RWB kit starts above $25,000 depending on the Porsche generation, chassis 930, 964, 993 or 997, and the options chosen, Driving Line reports. Add paint, prep, wheels and suspension and CarBuzz puts a full conversion at upwards of $55,000, on top of a donor car that can itself cost $70,000 to $200,000 before Nakai touches it. Customers in most markets go through a regional RWB partner, pay a deposit to join the queue, then the full kit price before the car is built, usually when Nakai is next travelling through that region. Driving Line reports he completes roughly 100 cars a year worldwide.

What this means for an owner in India

RWB has no listed India outlet. Its own site names regional partners across Tokyo, the United States, Canada, Europe, Britain, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Russia, and India is not among them. The RWB Worldwide Registry, which tracks every car Nakai has built, groups cars by continent rather than country, and an Indian owned RWB has not surfaced in either source. In practice, an Indian 911 owner wanting the real thing would need to ship the car, or fly a donor car, to one of those regional stops and wait for Nakai's tour to reach it, then deal with Indian import and re-registration rules on return. For now, the closest most Indian enthusiasts get is the version Torque Tribe sells on the shelf, a 1:64 scale model of Nakai's first car, Stella Artois, which at least puts the story of the only man who builds an RWB within reach of a coffee table.

Sources

• What Is An RWB Porsche And Why Is Everyone So Obsessed?
• The Cost (and Rewards) of Building an RWB
• Akira Nakai, Wikipedia
• RWB official site
• RWB Worldwide Registry
• Inside RWB Culture: Almost Real's Porsche 930 Stella Artois