FlatSix911

Very sad ... Porsche has lost their way - another SUV over the 550

aussie jimmy

just use your gt3.

utkinpol

what he does ls logical and correct for recession years. also keep in mind how audi now suggests to shut down production of high end models as they got declined sales numbers. small SUVs are what most people buy and any business`s primary goal is to produce profit.

so they just do exactly same thing an every other brand does - they will shut down R&D on sport cars, they will extend consumer oriented lines like '4000lbs family sedans' as that is what people buy.

and they will put same 9a1 engine into all '911' line of cars they sell for street use keeping motorsports devision with cup cars isolated from mass produced cars.

917962

What you said is spot on. It makes the most fiscal sense. I hate this mentality for so many reasons though as Porsche becomes just another car maker. Wiedeking was just the beginning. The problem is that Porsche has an identity crisis. There are still many left within Porsche whom share the passion but VW is at the reins and uses profit and projections as their barometer to steer the brand. This rant of mine has been said by many here already but the more I hear the more I grimace.

Before long Porsche will be just like Wiedeking and his new pizza chain.

aussie jimmy

same thing is happening in most industries - it's very sad.
individualisation is dying.
fakes and clones are everywhere.

Quadcammer

blah blah...they prioduce what people will spend big bucks for
its not a charity. porsches only purpose, now and forever, is profit maximization. the only difference is the vessel that it comes in

Alan Smithee

Maybe for now - their current strategy is for short term profit maximization.

VW is quickly becoming the old General Motors - the one that went bankrupt diluting profitable brands by badge engineering on shared platforms.

Serge944

Maybe I'm the only one not phased by this...

If another SUV in the lineup is what it takes to keep pumping out limited production GTx cars, I'm all for it.

996FLT6

Wasn't the boxster the successor to the 550? Actually it's too bad the prototype of the boxster looked great- too bad it didn't come out that way. Mike

512bb

That's one of the reasons why the 2007 turbo is the last Porsche I buy.

Quadcammer

and if porsche kept doing what it was doing, they would have been bankrupt about 16 years ago.

you can whine about it all you want, it won't change.

ChrisFL

GT2/GT3 numbers are probably about 10% of 911s if that.... and the number of GT2/GT3s that are tracked are even less than that....

I'm sure VW looked at the numbers before making their decision...

Mike in CA

One month's figures don't give a very useful picture of sales volume, but your point is still probably valid.

rodsky

Exactly!

Alan Smithee

No, they just would have been absorbed by VW sooner. But 16 years ago, the seed for trucks and sedans had not been planted yet, so there is a chance Porsche would have remained a sports car company.

But we are obviously quite far down a different road now. During those 16 years, Porsche had established itself as the most profitable car maker - so there was no longer the threat of bankruptcy and takeover due to product line and manufacturing (obviously their non-automotive activities were another issue). Yet the future is nothing but exploitation with mainstream models on shared VW platforms - the upcoming mid-engined car will be based on the R8/Gallardo, the next Panamera based on the Continental/A8/Phaeton, the Macan based on the Q5 (which is based on the A4), the smaller sedan will be VW/Audi-based as well, and of course the Touareg/Q7/Cayenne/Bentley SUV/(and Lambo SUV?). Again, straight out of the GM and Ford playbook from the last century.

The 981/991 and 918 were developed before the VW takeover. Do you really think the next generation of those models will be untouched by the VW brand?