Mike, check your e-mail

 

Mpm, you make a lot of very forceful points, well argued, but I have to disagree with a couple of things - as well as your use of bold - C'mon as a Director of such an important company you don't need to resort to schoolyard name calling, surely.

Not sure if you've visited the factory, but the people I spoke to there who have worked for the company for many years, almost worship the ground that the Boss walks on. Now that's not necessarily a good thing, but it is a sign that the people closest to the dole queue if things go wrong still revere the guy. Lets not forget he's saved their jobs and the company once already. So maybe a bit more respect is due until the pepper pot is actually released and we can get our paws on one.

I for one find the darn thing growing on me.... but then maybe I'm writing this from a secure facility somewhere <img src="graemlins/icon107.gif" border="0" alt="[icon107]" /> .

What I would find facinating from someone who is clearly a marketing expert is your take on the marketing exercise behind the new vehicle - I don't expect you to like it, but how would you have done it differently?

 

For those who have asked I would like to reply. My family is going and doing things sort of day by day. Some days are better than others. These are still very sad times for us but we have got this far and we will go further. Natalie is gone but will never be forgotten and I am sure that in the coming weeks our plans for something positive out of this tragedy will come into being.
I finish off by saying, "watch this space".
Thanks to all for your support and comfort and for still thinking of us,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

PS: I cannot see any market for Porsche to sell 50% of these very expensive SUVs into the market outside of the USA. Fuel, insurance and road taxes are just far too expensive to justify such a purchase. Yes they will sell some but the VW version will sell more and do not forget that in this area VW and Porsche will be competing head to head in a tiny market. 31% of all autos sold in Germany for instance are diesels. This figure is rising every month.

 

Christian -

Yeah, I'm sure Fearless Freddie is probably a decent enough guy. He did help stave off elimination, but this is business...and your only as good as your last decision. Plus this is an enthusiast board and it's an open debate.

I've been ragging on Fathomless Freddie for better then a month or so mostly tongue-n-cheek. But also to make(some would say belabor) a point. Because this is Figurehead Fred's baby - and he bet the future of Porsche on this product (which kills me). Oh, and I like the bold feature

[quote]What I would find fascinating from someone who is clearly a marketing expert is your take on the marketing exercise behind the new vehicle - I don't expect you to like it, but how would you have done it differently?<hr></blockquote>

I appreciate your compliment, but when it comes to cars - especially Porsche - what you see is more my passion for the brand, and my deepest desire for their long term survival and success.

There's not enough band width to do your question justice, but IMHO product launches comes down to three points: research, design and execution - and in the car business timing is critical - and that might be the ultimate factor in this product failure.

Research was based solely on the NA SUV craze. My bet is that it was more instinctive then in-depth. "Hey everybody's got one (Factoid Freddie drives a Lexus), therefore every Porsche owner will want one!" This may have been true in '97, but this thing doesn't show up until '03 - a lifetime in the auto industry. The should have looked deeper in Europe (where estates rule)and the growing estate trends in NA. And their research must have overlooked a pricing model. $60-90K for an SUV? Me thinks that is a very narrow audience.

Design he may have helped keep the wolves from the doors in '95, but the design issues (shared Boxster sheet metal, cheapo interior, overlap gauges, bland rear design) of the 996 created a lot of controversy inside the gates. The same holds for the Chili-dip. Sorry, but it's ugly.

Finn's design which is a cross-over estate would have worked. The lines are more fluid (like most Porsches), the nose does not look like a Catfish, and rockers loose that ugly Hyundai crease...plus it is an estate not an SUV!

Execution this is the big one. It's late, way too late to the SUV party. They expect to sell 25,000 units? The fickle NA market may have found its next Edsel. If this doesn't move fast the word will spread and the product will be doomed. It will be "in" not to buy it.

And that why I continue to rag - it's late, expensive and ugly - other then that it's a well executed product launch.

Worse of all, Porsche bet the ranch on this. Why? They could have made a much less risky decision, sped a product to market, built the V8tt, and sold their 25,000 units off an existing VAG estate platform. This would have left them with plenty of money to race (which sells cars) and brings us the technological improvements that have been the hallmark of Porsche.

Instead they try to get a piece of the SUV pie, which forces them out of racing, and bet the ranch it will work. GM can afford to have a product flop (read: Aztec). Porsche can not.

One marketers opinion...

 

Belabor away to your heart content Mpm - fascinating stuff......

Bandwidth considerations apart, on the basis we have little else to do other than speculate until the thing arrives in the flesh, which direction would you have taken the company after the Boxster / 996?

FWIW I don't see the absence of top flight motorsport as a huge issue - as long as it's temporary. The marketing cudos/brand etc has surely been established over the previous 40 years and arguably pouring more and more money into it just for the sake of it is poor business sense....

Should the ACO, FIA or Uncle Tom Cobley come up with a sports car formula that even begins to be relevant to manufacturers I would wholeheartedley agree with a full scale factory return. Sports prototypes have been done, got the T-Shirt a hundred times and I would argue from my amateur marketing standpoint, offers little benefit currently. And while the prototypes win everything, the car-based competitors are just making up the field.

So if one agrees that the botomless pit of Motorsport spending can be suspended at least temporarily, you've got the Boxster being a huge success, the 996, despite its detractors being widely hailed by the motoring press as the best ever and class leader by a mile and more importantly selling..... what do you do??

Nothing? Just develop the existing models? Or what - If not SUV, where?

IMHO Porsche needs a third string to its bow...it's just a question of which variety? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

 

[quote]Originally posted by mpm '95 C4:
[QB]...Finn's design which is a cross-over estate would have worked. The lines are more fluid, the nose does not look like a Catfish, and rockers loose that ugly Hyundai crease...QB]<hr></blockquote>

Just to clearify, those too 'designs': first was picture from magazine which I just modified a little and second was actual Cayenne which I lowered & put in bigger wheels.

But mpm is right, even with those small changes (& the size which should be smalle, not SUV) you can see, it could've been great looking car and main thing: sporty car, not friggin' SUV!

 

Christian,

[quote] Bandwidth considerations apart, on the basis we have little else to do other than speculate until the thing arrives in the flesh, which direction would you have taken the company after the Boxster / 996? <hr></blockquote>

That is a great question, as is your racing comment. I'm sticking with cross-over estate or flat out sport estate (or, a four door sport sedan and coupe).They could get the most out of Porsche's go fast/stop right/corner flat pieces parts, and already have the product on the market. Better-cheaper-faster is a good business practice.

But, as Finn and others have said, was this SUV really necessary? For what - to compete on a larger scale, to build new plants, to sell more units? It's really not clear from any of their messages as to why. It seems more like it was done more on a whim. Plus, it really delutes the brand IMHO.

As far as you motorsports observation...that is indeed an interesting POV. And to further it, Fiat announced this week that then may need to sell more of the company to GM. Now this is more because of Fiat's ills then Ferrari. But there are those who would say that they are solely a specialty build manufacture. And we all know how expensive F1 is. Some might say, that the F1 program did nothing but pour a lot of money down the drain.

I guess my retort would be that endurance racing (even with its problems) is still the best racing around. It develops useful technology that finds its way into our cars, and builds huge brand awareness and loyalty. In 1972 my brothers and I had those TYCO race cars. My favorite was a L&M 917. I've been hooked ever since. Porsche should always stand for outright endurance wins - period.

Let the debate continue. Have a great weekend... .