Hi all,

I'm a waiter on a new 997s (yah yah, boo/hiss) .

Ever since I was a kid I wanted a Porsche and my preference was actually the 944. I thought it looked nicer and prefered it the the 911 at that time (early 80's).

Just curious why did Porsche stop making them? Well cuz people stopped buying them duh ! Seriously was it the economy? Porsche still hung on to the legendary 911 though... why didnt they resurrect the 944 when they added the boxter?

I really need those microscopic back seats now that I have 2kids ! 2 and 6years..

Thanks,
Kurt

 

1991 and yes - the economics had changed, sales had slumped, etc. There were efforts to re-tool the line (the 968 or as some called it, the "944 S3") but it largely was unsuccessful due to a somewhat sluggish economy. I strongly suggest picking up "The Ultimate History of Porsche" which has a very nice write-up on exactly this aspect of the history of the wasserpumpers.

 

Great thanks! wasserpumpers?? LOL

 

Not only that, by the time the Boxster was introduced, the 968 was still somewhat traceable to the 924 of the mid-70s. It had a hatch, a convertible option on a car designed to be a coupe, an HVAC system that was band-aided and shoehorned into an existing design, etc. Why produce a brand-new 10-20 year old car? The 928 and earlier versions of the 911 showed that you can't sell an ancient car with a good name alone.

Argue as we might, the fresh start in introducing the Boxster helped the company. They came up with a convertible from the start, dumped the joke that was the 944 backseat (or the great package shelf if you look at it that way), went midengine, shared components with the 911, etc.