Red UFO

Perhaps the pod and dash will crack so its more like a shark?

No triangle rear amityville windows = no darth vader mobile. I doubt many will put down 125k Euro? or US for it, especially if most is farmed out to VW to build.

911Dave

Yes, yes, YES!!! And then they ruined everything. Porsche is losing their identity.

Porsche is a high-performance luxury sports car company. Always has been. They've thumbed their noses at the market in the past and have profited by doing so. Why can't they do it some more? As soon as they started making water-cooled 911's and SUV's (and now THIS), they started losing losing their identity. When I was a kid, every kid lusted after Porsches. That's why so many of us own them today. What kid today is going to lust after a Cayenne or a 4-door sedan? Or a water-pumping 911 that doesn't look like a 911?

When Ferry Porsche was running the company, the goal was to produce the best and highest-performing sports cars possible. They weren't concerned with squeezing out every last dime of profit. Sadly, this no longer appears to be the case.

Red UFO

100% exactly.

Who has a poster of a SUV on there wall? Ok my kid but beside her?

Oh, I can't wait to grow up have a bunch of kids and put my groceries into that!
Oh, I can't wait to take the office out to lunch at 187 mph! in the sedan.

Whats next a Porsche mini-van, or pickup truck?

Hey they got to compete with those markets too to apease the bean counting ferengi that run Porsche.

mark kibort

Hey, i just love the GT3 cup car look as the newest 911. too bad they dont use the GT3R type wide body for the 911 now! eitherway, i think its a great progression for the 911. but, they really hit a homerun with style in the 928. too bad they have lost it !!

MK

morganabowen

Some of you people are funny, you sound like the 911 crowd when they talk about the watercooled cars (928/944/924 etc.). Porsche makes great cars, including the Cayanne, 914, 924 so on and so forth

Ferris B

I hate the name, and will wait to see a live version before passing judgement on the looks.

Regarding how Porsche has dulled the lines of the various models' identities: have you noticed how the ***-end of the later 911 models look somewhat like that of a 928? IMO.

Ron_H

"Porsche is a high-performance luxury sports car company. Always has been."

I must take issue with that statement by Dave. Nothing personal, but it hasn't always been the case. Some of the early 356s were bargains considering performance vs. price and weren't so much luxurious as light and efficient machines. Porsche competed in the 2.0 liter class and won their class on efficiency while more brutal machines won overall. Not until the 906s and 908s came along did they start to compete with the big guys. The early 911s were lightweight and spartan compared to the later 3.6L cars.

In fact I can recall the days when far more luxurious makes were objects of lust while Porsches were ridiculed as glorified VWs by many ignorant people. And we need to remember that Ferry Porsche lusted after a 4 door model bearing the Porsche name because he wanted to take his friends along; this new model appears to be what he wanted. And don't forget the cost of a new Ferrari or Lambo these days.

cobalt

I know I will get bashed for this but the Cayenne Turbo is an amazing vehicle.

For an SUV it is not bad looking. I don't know of any SUV's that I can say look great and IMO the Cayenne looks better than most. It is as fast as my GTS, handles very well and I can drive a Porsche with 4 adults and cargo to boot, when I need the extra space. Or you can take it to an autoX event and be competitive with 3 adult passengers. Try doing that in a 928. Not easy unless your adults are 4'5". The Cayenne has room for all sorts of stuff and will pull from a 997S from 60-120 and handle most sweeping turns as well. It will out accelerate most other Porsches including most 928's. They can do all this with a full load of party supplys and take you closer to the action by going 4x4 when needed.

So bash me if you like but I consider my CT as much a Porsche as my 911 and my 928. This new model will take some getting used to as all changes do but I commend Porsche for takeing on such convictions.

You know this reminded me of when Porsche first came out with the 928 and all the 911 purists would bash it saying it was an overweight pig, an ugly duckling and all sorts of foolish names just because it wasn't a 911. But it has stood the test of time and it is a shame Porsche dropped it from the line up in 1995. To this day it is still one of the best looking Porsches ever made and one hell of a GT. But man does not live on Sports cars alone and for those that need other forms of transportation these new models are proving to fill that gap.

Ron_H

The fact is that these "new models" are what is making it possible for Porsche to remain Porsche, rather than GM or Ford or VW. That is not so sad. I can live with that situation. I wish the aesthetics were not so affected by trendy fads though.

Rich9928p

Sorry, I disagree on this point. The North American/Japanese 4.5 - 4.7 L-Jet motors were designed to meet the US and Japanese smog requirements, fuel consumption was not the issue. If you would have said the above abut the 4.5-liter CIS motor in the OBs, then I would agree (per Tony Lapine, the original target was a 5-liter 300 HP motor), the loss of displacement was a bet that things wouldn't be so bad. By 1980, the Euro S was introduced and HP was up to 300 HP.

At the time of the 928 design, Porsche had NO inhouse pollution control expertise and they had to home grow it. They had no room at the plant, so Ferry Porsche agreed to loan his home garage to the engineers for lab/engineering space. The engineers called it the California Circus in honor of the California smog regulations that lead the world.

I briefly met the Porsche engineer, Professor Dr. Klaus Schellman, who was responsible for the 928 engine. He stated that he was quite proud of the HP and torque that the L-Jet motor produced. If you compared the performance of a CA-smog 928 vs. what Detroit was selling at that time, the 928 would RUN CIRCLES around any Detroit iron.

At the 25th anniversary of the 928, I think Prof. Wolfhelm Gorrisen (first Porsche 928 project manger) bragged that the Porsche twin turbo motor was their cleanest - lowest smog - engine. Thus illustrating at Porsche that performance need not be traded for performance.

Jessa

The 928 didn't "look like Porsche" when it was new. Nor did the 924, 914 or 986. That's what being NEW is all about. If anything, Porsche ought to consider doing more to make this new model look different than their other cars.

Having the 996 and 986 share a front-end did nothing but confuse people and prorbably turn off a few 966 buyers who didn't want to pay $90k for a car that looks just like the entry-level model from the front. Parts sharing is one thing, but it shouldn't include major portions of bodywork.

Vilhuer

4th Porsche model lineup is entirely dependant on VW. If VW starts to make suitable platform Porsche can 'get along for a ride' and have second model for Leipzig factory. Making main pieces of cars body requires house sized pressed and moulds to those that cost ridiculous money. Porsche can not charge enough $ per unit to pay those costs alone. That's why Cayenne shares unibody with VW Toareg. Without VW's sister model Cayenne would probably cost at least $20k more to make. Rumoured 4 door Porsche must be based on some other car. They can and probably will change engines, fenders, bumpers, lighting and interior but can't afford to make it totally on their own. Or could but not financially successfully as car sales is like pyramid. At the top there are very few buyers yet many makes fighting for them. If Porsche can keep price low enough by sharing platform they can expect to multibly production numbers. This will lead to further savings as per unit cost to all parts lowers significantly when quantity increases. So what 4th model will be is desided entirely by VW, not by Porsche. If VW makes body suitable only for making 4 door model new Porsche will be 4d only too.

Latest computer images look a lot like new Mercedes-Benz CLS coupe to me. It and sporting models of BMW lineup would probably be Porsche's target competition if they make sedan.

http://ddd2dcs01.ddd.de/mbd/?7796

MGW-Fla

All of the talk of the proposed 4 door & 928 successor, yet what about Porsche's new 2 door Cayman model?? They are already listing it on their web site, supposed to be introduced in Sept. at the Frankfurt Auto Show. It is supposed to fall between the Boxster & the 911, yet due to its weight & engine package, word is that it will possibly be quicker than the 911! The photos of possible test cars show it to be a blend of several looks of the current cars. The rear portion has a wide bodied fast back look. Kinda cool. I hope Porsche makes both of these proposed cars!! I agree that making the 996 have the same front end as the 986 has now caused problems with resale of the 996s, the 993s are actually commanding better resale due to no mistaking them as 911s & being still air cooled. How many times have you seen a Porsche heading towards you in traffic and its not till you see the side air vents behind the doors that you know its a Boxster & not a 996? And thats assuming its not a Turbo 996 & you missed the wider body! Nothing wrong with having some of the look of the other cars, but new models should be distinctive enough to be easily recognized. Sure seems that Ferrari & Lambo models all look totally different from each other to be easily distinguished apart, cept for the F40-F50's looking similar.

It sucked enough back in the late 90s when Porsche abandoned the factory racing to be able to sink their $$ into the production of the Cayenne. Personally, I understand it totally. They needed the capital to be able to stay the only private large car manufacturer. The SUV allows many a Porsche fan the ability to have the family car, yet drive a Porsche. And after they fall in love with the performance, what kind of sports car do you think they will be buying once the kids are grown, the four doors are no longer needed, & the mid life crisis kicks in?? Betting it will be something developed by those great engineers in Stuttgart!!

I say let them now bring on some new models, no mini vans or pickups though!! Pleaseeee!! The new models may not all be successful, but we might not have the 928 today if they had kept the mentality of sticking with just the 911. The 924 may have been a flop, but look what came afterwards.

Vilhuer

Cayman = 987 Boxster coupe. Production will start this summer in Valmet factory at Uusikaupunki Finland. It shared platform with new 987 Boxster and front underside is same as 997. Same arrangement how 986/996 were done using partly same platform to save costs. Like with Boxster, almost all Cayman's are put together by Valmet from parts shipped from Stuttgart or directly from Porsche subcontractors. There are talks curculating of already finished preproduction cars at Uusikaupunki factory. No pictures yet. Valmet managed to hide them well when Porsche Club Finland members visited there some weeks ago. More pictures:

http://www.theautobahn.com/forum/sho...Exterior&num=7

cobalt

I have to agree with you there. They pushed it with the Cayenne and stretched the envelope pretty far. I hated the concept of a Porsche SUV until I drove it and boy did it open my eyes. Although I think a Porsche Minivan would be a true oxymoron. I can be open minded to a point but a minivan would be automotive suicide.