tt9714

Did anyone happen to see the article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday about Porsche? The article appeared on page A1, and was titled "Long Used to Going It Alone, Porsche Joins the SUV Crowd."

As expected, the article talks about the Cayenne. What was amazing to me was that they reported "the company is counting on it to boost unit sales by 50%." With 2001 total production quoted at 55,782, apparently they are planning to sell up to 25,000 Cayennes. That seems pretty optimistic, considering how all of us feel about the vehicle.

One other tidbit that was impressive is that Porsche can claim the highest pre-tax profit of any automaker (13.2%). The next highest was BMW at 8% with General Motors at a tiny 0.77%. Also the chart showing net income over the last 10 years was pretty impressive.

rpm's S2

25,000 is the number they are planning on producing, based on their anticipated share of the BMW/Mercedes/Range Rover market share.

Kool

Nobody thought that the X5 would sell. But Being a supplier for them I can tell you that they build 392 of them a day and they are still on a waiting list. The Cayenne will sell.

AndyK

Saw that article....pretty cool how Porsche doesn't report financial info because...it doesnt feel like it!

Also, don't forget it wont be "us" buying the SUV, it will be the wives of all the non-Porsche people who bought Boxters without knowing a damn thing about owning and loving a Porsche!

They'll sell fine...and they'll beat us all down a straightaway!

SamGrant951

[quote] They'll sell fine...and they'll beat us all down a straightaway! <hr></blockquote>

not all of "us"

AndyK

Uh-oh..I knew as I hit "enter" I'd upset the turbo guys with that comment!

<img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

scular

I really tried not to do this, but the Boxster is quite impressive, I was watching an S with some modifications done to it run at an autocross and it blew away just about everyone with or with out a turbo, 944,951,911,968,914,and some J-cars.

Micah

Scular,

And it only costs 50k! Your positive observations depend soley on the driver of the S. A stock Hyundai Tiburon was 2.5 secs slower around Buttonwillow than a Boxster S... this would put it on par with the standard 986.
R&T had a stock Camaro SS beating a Boxster S around Thunderhill by a full second.

The Boxster "family" does not impress me.

Micah

scular

I guess what I should also have said is at least it is a sporty car, not a family hauler, and not a race car. As for price look at any newer car and to get performance like that or better you need at least $50k. But as for the rest it is an opinion and if a good enough offer were to come by I think I would buy a Boxster S. To me a sporty cabrio is the best.

Micah

Scular,

You can get a Honda S2000 for 20k less. The Boxster S is no fantastic deal. I'm not even going to list the myriad of other performance cars that exhibit better numbers on paper than the 986 - but aren't "sporty" convertibles, per your preference.

The Boxster is, I believe, the first Porsche in this history of the company to rely more heavily on "snob appeal" than performance to make sales.

BTW, I do not mean to insult any of the Boxster owners on this board (or on other boards.) Rather, I'd like to congratulate them for participating in a Porsche forum - something that 99% of the other Boxster owners out there don't even know exists (and wouldn't visit even if they did.)

Micah

scular

errr... I yield, for another day.

dave120

This car for the money thing with the Boxster comes up just about everywhere. All the talk of how you can get the S2000 and some other things cheaper. Let me tell you, after driving an S2000, I would NOT want one for a daily driver. It's somewhat quicker than my S2--only above 6000 rpms. When you get to that it's fast. Below that it's rather Civic-like in speed performance. It might be a nice track car but for the street its way too slow unless you like having the rpms out the roof all the time. All about personal preference though.

Micah

Scular,

You brought up great points about the Boxster - and you're still the one who saw an S blasting by loads of other German hardware, so you're definitely right in that 986's can be capable cars. It's just that, well - they are "not my thing." There, that's it

Good debate though. Was the AutoX with the Boxster a PCA event? I have a friend who regularly runs a GSR at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and he told me that he rarely sees any P-cars out during normal runs.

Dave, I don't believe in a daily driver that isn't a hatchback anyway. <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" />

Have a good one.

Micah

scular

It was an SCCA event, but a I know a number of PCA people that went.

JohnK944T

As of today I don't have to worry about buying the Boxster or the Cayenne. I don't know if any of you caught the article in Fortune, but Porsche has done incredible things with the manufacturing of the Cayenne. It takes 3,500 employees to build 32,000 Boxsters and 911s. To build 25,000 Cayenne it will only take 260 employees.

Kool, if you were making parts for the Cayenne you can be sure you would be covering all of the inventory cost.

I sounds as if Porsche only needs to sell 5,000 a year to break even. If Porsche ends up selling a great deal of Cayenne, will that make them more likely to be purchased by a competitor?? I think so, and that could suck.

-jk