ELUSIVE

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/30/p...ring/#comments

997, esq

Very interesting. I think it's time to have an independent party drive the cars. Racing tires would be a pretty significant cheat.

JFScheck

I would love to see them all driven - spaced our 30 seconds from each other so the conditions are the same - Each company brings their best drivers...

Leader

An automobile manufacturer "fudging" the performance figures for one of its cars?
I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

MikeBat

Who falls for these pissing contests anyways?

Drive what makes you smile.

Minok

Why this even matters is beyond me. Are we really to the point that they should be worried this much about marketing to some subset of men that value this meaningless statistic? I mean really, who gives a crap?

KBS911

I smell a ringer.

Coochas

Very interesting that Porsche would do that experiment and go public with it. There have been MANY track comparisons by a variety of drivers comparing the TT and the GT-R all of which put them on roughly equal ground or with an advantage going to the GT-R.
I just don't know what to make of it.

Leader

This is obviously very important to Porsche.
It's pretty much "mine's bigger than yours" as far as I'm concerned.
Eighth Grade stuff - at best.

lgascoig

I can believe what they're saying. Although if their +25s time is right then that puts it around the same speed as a 09S PDK. Incidentally, the dealer just called me to let me know my car is going to show up in a couple weeks. Hopefully I can still get a loan!

fire_n_ice

That's it, Porsche. Bring your lofty brand image down to Nissan's level- that's exactly what they want.

Is there a link to the actual statement by Porsche? I can't find it. Or is everybody just going off this autoblog article?

blk on blk

Nissan just won. IMO. Porsche should never, ever recognize anything from Nissan. They just brought themselves down to the level of NIssan. Not a good idea.

hformrace1

A few posts up it read 'porsche sales are down 44%'.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Minok

Sales are not 'down 44%'. Porsche AG has allocated 44% fewer cars to North America for this new delivery of 09 models, compared to last year. They are all launch cars.. heck those have not even hit the dealerships yet. Knowing the new models with their improvements, are coming now to the dealers, of course that will affect sales of 08 models left in stock.

Of course, the type of folks that care about the 'ring times' also make up a good bit of the people buying Porsche cars with great frequency to get the latest car or fashion accessory. They are impacted by the economic downturn and holding onto their funds.

nicoff

When Lexus came out with their LS400 years ago, Mercedes tried to ignore until it was obvious that Lexus was taking a good chunk of their market share (I believe that Lexus now has a larger share of the luxury US car market than Mercedes). Soon, you heard rumors of Mercedes buying Lexus cars to strip them and find out what Lexus was doing.

Nissan has done a great job with the GT-R. I see a similarity here. It seems that Porsche has bought a few GT-Rs and are now putting them through the paces. I am sure they will be taking them apart and finding out more about the car.

Whether P is right or wrong about the ring numbers is immaterial at this point. The GT-R has changed the perception enough that sooner rather than later Porsche will have to get on the ball. The introduction of the PDK in regular P-cars may be an example (supposedly Porsche developed this technology 20 years ago or so. Now this technology is available to the rest of us. Coincidence? Who knows!)

In the end, I expect that Porsche car fans will benefit. Mercedes started building better cars to meet Lexus' challenge. I expect that Porsche will do the same as well.