Thoughts on the 911 beyond 2025...
05-20-2014, 01:15 PM
#32
Maybe you are right. But, this is what I have been trying to debate. Will the 911 be always a 911? And will people be always ready to argue the point? Will they really care? Porsche is a brand and a highly sought one and lusted after by many in the younger generation who are about to drive their first car, but many do not always revere the 911 nameplate like they do the Porsche nameplate. It was different a while back. My son thinks that the Macan is a way cooler idea than my 991. It is a Porsche, so it must be a blast to drive and it can take hiking gear, snowboards, mountain bikes and friends along. Don't get me wrong.. I am not comparing the Macan to the 991, I am simply trying to make the point that the 911 moniker may not be as hallowed as we think it is.
05-20-2014, 01:44 PM
#33
Hammer's (probably halfway joking) idea is probably pretty close. They've been using the 911 for hybrid testing for some time now already. The 911 is such a legend, not to mention foundational legacy, its hard to see them letting it go any time soon. Its a little easier to see the 911 sort of phased away into even more of a niche market. I could imagine it continuing on to serve racing and the small segment of enthusiasts who are seeking a driver's car - for which the 911 will probably reign supreme for decades to come. But in 10 years it will almost certainly be a hybrid, with lots of features that will make some of us today gag (heads-up holographic display switchable between providing 360 degree visibility and HD movies, say) along with comfort and quiet - and performance- far beyond anything available anywhere today. Active suspension, maybe. Not like today's "active" that merely adjusts passive shocks, but true active that reads the road and moves the suspension up and down, simultaneously adjusting for the road, lateral acceleration (body roll), sharp inclines (front clearance) and rough roads (overall ride height). Electronically actuated valves that allow real-time adjustment of lift and timing individually, the way DFI now does for fuel delivery. Brakes that soft-modulate, a further refinement of ABS. Greater mode adjustability for steering feel, suspension and throttle response.
If all the automation makes people gag, it might help to consider that around this time you will probably be able to buy a Hyundai with automated parking feature that lets you get out where you want to be while the car goes and finds its own parking space and returns later to pick you up. Porsche will have that too- in another five years and as a $12k option on certain models.
If all the automation makes people gag, it might help to consider that around this time you will probably be able to buy a Hyundai with automated parking feature that lets you get out where you want to be while the car goes and finds its own parking space and returns later to pick you up. Porsche will have that too- in another five years and as a $12k option on certain models.
05-20-2014, 03:46 PM
#34
A hybrid will be required for the majority of cars because the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards requires automakers to raise the average fuel efficiency of new cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Of course the key word is average, but I expect the heavier trucks and SUVs will be the only ones below the average whereas subcompacts will be above the average as an offset.
CAFE mpg is different than the EPA mpg. CAFE mpg is based on gen 1 EPA methods which were in place in the 70s. EPA mpg methodology is now on gen 3. Thanks to lobbying, CAFE is significantly watered down, but that is beneficial to us with our obsessions. That 54.5 mpg is closer to mid thirties in current EPA average fuel ecomomy terms by 2025.
Trucks have a different CAFE standard.. much less that is.
Finally, Porsche now counts as part of the VW group, so while reducing overall consumption is important, it is not an absolute since VW group can decide to sell more efficient compacts in the US. Of course, they still have to offset Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti...
The Hybrid or Electric is inevitable for performance gains alone. I see more and more engines in Performance cars tuned for better fuel economy at the lower rpms rather than torque or HP with the electric motors providing the gusto at the lower end. The engines /tuning themselves modified to provide more power at the upper end of the rpm ranges.
05-20-2014, 05:33 PM
#35
Maybe you are right. But, this is what I have been trying to debate. Will the 911 be always a 911? And will people be always ready to argue the point? Will they really care? Porsche is a brand and a highly sought one and lusted after by many in the younger generation who are about to drive their first car, but many do not always revere the 911 nameplate like they do the Porsche nameplate. It was different a while back. My son thinks that the Macan is a way cooler idea than my 991. It is a Porsche, so it must be a blast to drive and it can take hiking gear, snowboards, mountain bikes and friends along. Don't get me wrong.. I am not comparing the Macan to the 991, I am simply trying to make the point that the 911 moniker may not be as hallowed as we think it is.
Stepping back to a microcosm of always, ten or twenty years, all the stuff you're saying about not being as hallowed as we think, well it never was. At least not in the sense you mean, where everyone knows about it. Even back in the beginning there were people buying them because they were cool. James Dean has one, I want one! Its like that today, only now its the rapper with the Frankenstein 356. (You have to see the video to believe it. They even jack the front of the car up, as if they think that's where the engine is!) But where you see hopeless decline into irrelevance, I see hopeful growth in a more widespread recognition of Porsche values.
People worried when the Cayenne first came out, asked me what I thought. I said now the world is finally going to see what an SUV can be. Because the thing of it is, whatever Porsche makes, they bring to it their values of what the driving experience should be. The way a car should perform for a driver. Everyone else is making appliances. The average person doesn't need to know, or even think that they care a whit for this. All they have to do is drive one.
So lets say your son goes for a Macan. You despair. The death of the 911 is written in this momentous decision. I rejoice! Because I know that as the years go by and the experience of driving that Macan inexorably seeps in, he is bound to become more and more predisposed to seeking out more- not less- of that feeling in his next car. And there will be nowhere to go but Porsche. And, ultimately, the 911.
05-20-2014, 06:34 PM
#37
But where you see hopeless decline into irrelevance, I see hopeful growth in a more widespread recognition of Porsche values.
People worried when the Cayenne first came out, asked me what I thought. I said now the world is finally going to see what an SUV can be. Because the thing of it is, whatever Porsche makes, they bring to it their values of what the driving experience should be. The way a car should perform for a driver. Everyone else is making appliances. The average person doesn't need to know, or even think that they care a whit for this. All they have to do is drive one.
So lets say your son goes for a Macan. You despair. The death of the 911 is written in this momentous decision. I rejoice! Because I know that as the years go by and the experience of driving that Macan inexorably seeps in, he is bound to become more and more predisposed to seeking out more- not less- of that feeling in his next car.
People worried when the Cayenne first came out, asked me what I thought. I said now the world is finally going to see what an SUV can be. Because the thing of it is, whatever Porsche makes, they bring to it their values of what the driving experience should be. The way a car should perform for a driver. Everyone else is making appliances. The average person doesn't need to know, or even think that they care a whit for this. All they have to do is drive one.
So lets say your son goes for a Macan. You despair. The death of the 911 is written in this momentous decision. I rejoice! Because I know that as the years go by and the experience of driving that Macan inexorably seeps in, he is bound to become more and more predisposed to seeking out more- not less- of that feeling in his next car.
Again. that's what I've been trying to say.. why the 911? There is nothing there that makes it cool to them specifically... Depending on how deep his pocket turns out to be, it could easily be a Cayman, Boxster or a 960? and not necessarily a 911.
05-20-2014, 10:17 PM
#39
