This $1 Million Dollar Dealership Sculpture Leaves Us Scratching Our Heads

Porsche has had a difficult 2025, and announced a major walkback of its EV plans in September in the wake of slumping demand for zero-emissions vehicles. Tariffs haven't helped matters either, since Porsche does not make any of its vehicles in America, and so is particularly badly affected by the new rules. The German automaker needs to find a way to entice new customers into its dealerships, and one dealership in Pasadena, CA, has come up with a novel idea: build a $1 million aluminum sculpture near the parking lot.

In October 2025, the City of Pasadena (PDF) confirmed that it had approved the planned sculpture at Rusnak Porsche, which will be constructed as part of a new development that houses a two-storey auto dealership. The artwork is called "In Motion," and was designed by Jason Pilarski, who reportedly used the Porsche 911 as his main inspiration for the piece. According to Pilarski, the "sculpture will invite the viewer to experience the intersection of performance, intelligence and behavioral systems found in nature."

How exactly that will translate into the dealership selling more Porsches isn't immediately clear, but at the very least, it's a cool piece of sculpture that can be appreciated by everyone from casual passersby to multimillionaire customers arriving to purchase whatever eye-wateringly expensive special edition model Porsche cooks up next.

At night, the sculpture will be lit up by an array of LEDs that are positioned around its base. According to planning documents submitted to city officials, it's expected to have a lifespan of around 20-25 years. What Porsche's lineup will look like by that point is anyone's guess — it's changed significantly over just the last few years, with the likes of the new Macan Electric SUV first hitting dealers earlier in 2025.

The total cost of the sculpture is estimated to be around $943,000. While the sculpture itself is unique, the idea of building a public art piece on new developments in Pasadena is far from novel. In fact, the city's planning code requires that all commercial developments in the city that are over 25,000 square feet — and outside dedicated exclusion zones — set aside a small proportion of their value to be used for public art. The developers simply opted to spend more than was legally required to build a larger, more impressive sculpture as a visual centerpiece for the new dealership. Whether or not it proves a boon for Porsche sales remains to be seen, but the people of Pasadena benefit from the new public art either way.