Rennlist Editor

Apparently CNN thinks one of the most celebrated sports car makers of all time is an underdog.

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Cristophosphorus

There's the first mistake.

tgcrun

I sort of agree with the underdog description as it relates to Underdog in the cartoon (I'm probably dating myself with that reference). It's a very practical, unassuming car without the flamboyance of a Ferrari or Lambo, but when you need a superhero, it delivers.

lunarx

Right, underpowered but won a lot of races.

uberspeed3

My view is somewhat congruent with this. I've always seen Porsche as an engineering company that's comfortable in its own skin so it doesn't go for the flashy numbers or over the top designs to garner attention; quite the opposite, they've always stubbornly stuck to the engine in the back design for the 911 (feather in the cap). I also happen to like Patek Philippe though so that says something, certainly nothing gaudy there as I've always favored Bauhaus design philosophy (Less is more - Mies van der Rohe).
Underdog? That's a stretch, but not aimed at the general public for mass consumption, at least not the iconic 911. Their SUV lines may be doing that these days but as long as that fuels their halo products it was/is a necessary evil.

Valkuri

Porsche hasn't been an 'underdog', since the early 90's.
CNN hasn't been a 'news outlet', for roughly the same duration.

maxpowers

I'd say the cars usually punch well over their weight. Meaning if you look at hp you'd think the cars are lightweight, yet if you put them up against these huge hp cars the Porsche will usually come out ahead,

Its for people that appreciate the over-engineering and feel of driving more than bragging to people about stats. It's like in tennis a counter-puncher or a consistent player beating a guy who hits the ball hard with loud grunts, but can't match the tactics and resolve of the more consistent player

R_Rated

Yes. CNN = Communist. News. Network.

R_Rated

Also - without the pricetag of the exotics but having the performance. Like the Corvette of Germany!

Hurricane

Underdog? Hmmmm.....not so much...at least not in my mind...

extanker

under -dog ?naaaa. over-priced under powered/poser/tinkerbell/torque less/fruit stereotyped but not underdawg

5CHN3LL

Porsche hasn't been a financial underdog for 20 years. As far as a performance underdog - they publish the specs, so I'm not sure how the car can be an underdog.

The perception that may people have about people who drive Porsche vehicles certainly don't seem consistent with "underdog."

But CNN can no longer produce articles that do not contain grammatical errors and factual inaccuracies, and they prefer to report on the current state of Honey Boo Boo more than domestic and international news that is...you know...news-worthy. CNN hasn't been a news outlet for a decade or more. It's a grist mill...

Fastboy

The media is under pressure to come up with grabbing headlines to sell their paper (or other venue)--I tend to take comments like this - with a grain of salt.

STG

Yeah, they've succeeded here. I haven't heard the name CNN mentioned in years.

NoGaBiker

I've certainly considered them the underdog in a historical sense, though I was just a wee lad barely out of diapers when the 917 won the first of 17 LeMans races so I didn't actually ever think of them as an underdog in the present tense.

Maybe when Joest got Porsche LeMans wins No. 14 and 15 (iirc) in the weird WSC-95 TWR car, I'd say that was a bit of an underdog effort maybe.

And the Hurley Haywood et. al. outright win at Daytona 24 in 73 in the 2.8 RSR against Prototypes was a definite underdog moment, even though I wasn't cognizant of racing at the time and Porsche, per se, was represented by other cars that had a reasonable chance of winning, so I wouldn't say the Porsche of post 908 days was ever a real underdog.

In the last 30 years I'd be hard pressed to think of any situation where they feel like the underdog other than any time you line one up next to a same vintage Corvette at a stoplight.