Carrera GT

I think we have to consider this current Porsche CEO, Mr Muelller, to be an interim player.

And Porsche really needs to just pull the fire alarm at their marketing building and when everyone runs outside, just lock the doors and go hire actual sales and marketing people.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011...NEWS/110229959

The message is simple: there will be dozens of variants of each Porsche; and every Porsche will be obsolescent the moment the customer turns the key -- with a "new" model update launched every year.

Boxster and Cayman will be showing up as VW badge-engineered versions.

Sales volume will double with SUVs, not 911's.

The US market is old news and Asian markets will be the focus for growth.

And the silver lining in this cloud of gloom: the four cylinder Porsche will be around as soon as 2012. A real 550 successor. No mention of price. Fingers crossed it will be at the Boxster level or below. Puh-leez don't let it be another $200K sky high status symbol for the elitists.

9972RS

VW group is becoming GM-ish and Chryser-ish

Too many models within each brand. What's a Porsche going to be then? Will there be any distinction? Look at the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler minivans. Same thing but different badges. Wait unitl the Phaeton is resurrected under Porsche.

I hope to graduate to Ferrari soon. At least they keep the soul alive. With Porsche, it's dying.

911SLOW

Maybe there's still hope..

CRex

I'm very disturbed by what I'm reading. Sure hope the PAG guys are reading this: the moment you milk a brand for volume you can kiss the upmarket perception goodbye. I have no problem voting with my dollars. I don't necessarily like fiats or bulls but with the eleventy versions of 911 in the past 3 months I have had it. The 4.0 RS LE may well be the last straw...

I want some degree of exclusivity and this brand is going to hell in a handbasket under VW.

ADias

Look at it this way... the current cars will be highly sought when the onslaught of changing new models becomes norm.

Larry Cable

I wonder if "Porsche" engineering (not VW group) is capable of delivering a new model/variant every 12 months? although I suppose that GTS+cab, speedster, and "black" edition and Cayman R within months of each other are examples of such!

we will have to split the forum

991-GT3-2013
991-GT3-2014
991-GT3-2015...

malmasri

There is no reason to live in hope land...this will be reality

Carrera GT

There won't be need for an "enthusiast" forum anymore... " : |

Larry Cable

however, at the core of Porsche is a certain engineering excellence and tradition, as long as that remains intact, while we may get more execises like Cayman R and Black Editions, we will also continue
to get GT2 RS, 918, etc ...

What will be interesting is to see what effect Porsche's oversight of Lambo and Audi RS will have?

Larry Cable

As long as there are the current members of 997 GT3 forum ... we will be ok!

P.J.S.

agreed!

Yoops Racing

ah la BMW.............
new models every year, too many variants, everything is going turbo(in Bimmer case anyway)......quality has gone down the tubes for everyone except the 1st owner and after the warranty period expires the cars are crap timebombs...maint/repair cost are too high to afford....so value of the cars drop like lead balloons

hey at least Mueller did not mention no oil dip sticks, and non serviceable parts....when this happens Porsche has lost everything

stout

Spoke to Müller in Detroit during a round-table discussion with 3-4 other editors and writers. Some of his quotes appear in my next Commentary. Some of what he said in this interview is possibly being misinterpreted given what he said in Detroit. His plan, as described on my iPhone recording, is to have seven model lines, with one major new model introduced each year and then smaller "events" (derivatives, etc.) during the rest of the year.

I do find the idea of 22 derivatives as a model for other lines discouraging, but I don't know what the extent of that could look like. I for one am glad that they added two derivatives to the 987 line lately, and think a lot of the angst toward the various 911 derivatives could be cleaned up pretty easily (were it me, I'd get rid of the "S" models, then make wide bodywork and roof configuration options without names...because they're plain for all to see. That would leave, what, Carrera 2, Carrera 4, GTx, and Turbo — it's been too long since a plain Carrera inspired awe, this despite the fact it's one of the sweetest version of them all to drive.

I found the 200,000 units projection to be a stunning piece of info, and there were other statements that surprised and, yes, discouraged me. On the other hand, however, PAG needs to make money, and VAG has projections it wants to get to and Porsche will have to pull its weight getting there. I had hoped that Porsche under Piech would be treated more like Lambo or Bentley (emphasis on the more in more like) than another Audi. There's a part of me that holds out hope, however, faint, that all this is a version of the kind of red herrings we saw during the first stage of the merger and Piech has plans to do truly interesting things with PAG. Emphasis here on faint.

Either way, I think it's too early to say what's next for Porsche AG. I recall the early days of the 996 and all the doomsayers, but the cars were pretty good. Going back to some of the editorials about the demise of the 911 after the 911 SC ("the 911 is as good as it can be made, and that's why the 928 is the future") don't look so prescient now. That said, there weren't SUVs and sedans to cloud the brand's purity in either of those cases, with huge volumes. Frankly, I don't and have never cared about "exclusivity." I know some do, however! I simply care about the cars as tools, and that they are good enough drives to look past the inevitable poseur factor that comes with any popular sporting car.

My biggest concern with re: to Porsche is its identity, how the 911 — or sports cars — can be considered its core product when they really aren't. The 911 can now be a dog in terms of sales and have far less impact on the bottom line. Also not sure how I feel about Porsches being "adapted" to other uses, and whether GM and all its platform sharing was really more advanced than we all thought, and whether some companies following in its tracks will learn similar lessons.

As always, time will tell.

pete

silverboy

+1.

superquant

McLaren.

Join me.