Eduardo,

Your email is as always intelligently worded, balanced and full of valid points!

Apologies if my emails carry any perceived anti American sentiment. That was not my intentional although I confess that some of my frustrations about glib and poorly balanced and weighted arguments against the 991 GT3 on these threads by some of your country folk has driven me to distraction over these last few months.

My comments above regards Porsches focus and target audience was a little tongue in cheek. Well the part about the Yuan becoming the trading currency of choice at least....

I too my holiday in the Americas 6 months ago (including Cuba and Mexico). Only 2 months granted but perhaps my 6th trip to the States. The better I get to know your country folk the more I get to admire them and the incredible patriotism they have for their country. And their innovation/creativity. This is one of the few economies in the world that can turn itself around via its sheer self belief and also one of few consumer bases that has the might to keep vendors honest and demand a good service (aside from the other geo political points you raise).

The manual thing is a different debate. The US is the only market IMHO that can save us from a fully PDK Porsche line up in 2015/16 and I sincerely hope that Porsche listen to the US stick lovers and I am a MT lover too.

Unfortunately however I cant help but think that the GT3 is the wrong battlefield to make the stand. This is a limited production run model and although the MT has always been an important part of the allure the sheer low volume numbers mean that infact Porsche may never miss the drop in demand due to lack of MT as the consumer base grows both through PDK "accessibility" but also through geographical audience growth (tiger economies). I think the future potential removal of the MT from the 991 base range will be critical juncture that required the strongest stand. The 991 GT3 is already under scrutiny for the change the worlds journos will voice their concerns if the new PDK-S is less than great!

Anyway the main point here for me is to apologize for any perceived contempt in previous posts with regards to Americans. I choose to spend my time on this mostly US centric Porsche board because the participants are the most knowledgeable and generous with their information and time and are a very friendly bunch as well. We get so little from Porsche Downunder (high prices, basic service, limited warranty and support) that it becomes sometimes frustrating to read complaints about what seem minor issues. But if the US customers didnt push back we would all be pushed around by these corporate juggernauts so in that regard at least we should be thankful the US consumer protests to protect the vestiges of our rights!

P.S. Eion Young is a great writer and I read him often and have corresponded with him a few times. A number of years ago he put me in touch with Denny Hulmes wife Greta for some information I was seeking.

P.P.S. I also agree Porsche would rather grow their entire market than substitute. However VW group will also continue to seek high margin returns with little resistance and IMO in the medium/long term this will see the US % of production Porsche's purchased annually eventually fall below 30% of annual production as BRIC, and "tiger cub" economies gradually increase in demand.

 

Well, that was interesting.

 

It still amazes me that Buick sells a 6 speed manual Regal but Porsche refuses to sell a 6 speed manual GT3.

 

I just think they have tested new pdk-derived manual box and concluded that it is not suitable for track use thanks for its new shifting pattern so they rejected it for gt3 configuration and as it was the only option originally planned they simply got left out with no option to use at all for a track oriented car, if we still will assume this new gt3 was designed as a track car.

 

They should have spent less time working out how to make the car steer crooked at the rear and gotten a couple engineers to redesign the bell housing on the current 6 speed to mate whilst addressing the ongoing issues of clutch failures and weak diffs... a couple days work to retain a race box in production....

 

Exactly. Claiming it doesn't fit when they're responsible for the complete design of the car in the first place is beyond silly and just another AP and Porsche apologist excuse. It would have fit if they made it fit.

 

+1

+2

They are SO full of crap.

 

well said

 

core issue for this entire car was to make sure all parts and whole unit will be assembled on the same automated line/lines used for regular street cars.

also obviously as an another cost reduction measure they excluded a possibility of separate suppliers for automated and manual transmission and here we got this 'hybrid' pdk/manual 7speed thing.

it is just VW management enforcing cost reduction measures. I think for now it is just worth to wait it over until VW will fire most old people and put its own heads into place and after that this management BS will end and engineers will eventually design missing pieces utilizing available resources.

 

So basically, VW bean-counters have already managed to make Porsche as bland as Audi in the enthusiast market.