new enzo vs 918 marketing strategies

Porsche probably feels it will be difficult to sell the 918 cars planned. Understandable considering that the 918 is claimed to lap the Nordschleife 4 s slower than the 997 GT2 RS and that it's going to be presented after the much faster supercars of Ferrari and McLaren (P12).

 

The 918 has never run the Ring in a flying lap attempt. The Prototype is far far from finished. With it's 2W/AWD Hybrid KERS it will be much more sophisticated than either the New Macca or the New Enzo.

Last Sunday at the 4 hour Race at the Ring no Ferrari or Macca even finished. The Porsches and other German cars rule the Ring for the time being. I look forward to racing them again at the end of the month and at the 24.

 

I'm so disappointed in the 918. It was supposed to be a lightweight supercar but instead they made a stupidly heavy car out of it.

Good for CGT values though.

 

Sadly due to the need to become more politically correct (Hybrid) all of these cars will be heavier.

The silly way fuel economy is calcutated contributes to this. The 918 will get 94 mpg in Euro mileage test running purely on hygrid.

As an aside these systems are very complex, ours is taking a lot more sorting than I thought it would and I wonder how these systems will work on road cars and traditional dealers.

Neither Ferrari, McLaren or Porsche are Lexus when it comes to dealer fixing hybrid systems.

 

Because Ferrari wont need to market this car, the will not have an issue selling out.

 

Porsche claims 7:22 at the Nordschleife for the 918 Spyder and 7:18 for the 997 GT2 RS. The 918 might be sophisticated but it's heavy and slow compared to the upcoming Ferrari and McLaren.
While Porsche uses a totally different hybrid system for racing (the Williams fly wheel in the 997 GT3 R) the Ferrari and McLaren supercars will feature a KERS like their winning F1 cars.

 

Surely the new super Ferrari will be equipped with KERS and something in a hybrid fashion. Ferrari have Porsche pretty easily beat on where sophistication is concerned.

 

The P system will have two electric motors one on both the front and
rear axles the next Enzo won't.

Until a finished production version of either is available to Run the ring
stating Ring times remains silly.

As an aside HP told me his new 760 HP Zonda track day car
(FXX type car) will lap the ring 10 seconds faster than his record
Holder and they'll be proving that soon.

 

like the last big surprise by ferrari: the foglight on the f12.

 

I don´t know, but probably selling 900 cars is harder than selling 300 Ferraris so they need to spend more money in marketing.

I don´t like this kind of teasers, BTW. With the teasers, phones with camera everywhere and internet, everything looks old since the first day.

 

The 918 is taking forever. I assume this is because of battery technology.

Today’s batteries and those so far announced for tomorrow are just too heavy. Battery companies in the headlines, such as A123 Systems, are apparently using chemistries that offer little opportunity for improvement.

Now, I don't doubt that the leapfrog technology will soon arrive. There is so much money being thrown at developmental stage startups who are aimed directly at the auto market. But its unclear why regulators are insisting that manufacturers bring (PH)EV's to the market so soon.

Better to be a Luddite for now. When the Leapfrog finally emerges, then go green.

 

Wasn't it the same for the CGT? Didn't we know what that car was going to be two years out from actual production?

 

The weight of the 918 is a disappointment for me. It seems like it will be 959/F40 again.

 

The F40 has stood the test of time. Its as desirable today as it was new.

I have yet to check what the market says about the 959, but I'm not sure the same can be said. The technology that made it attractive then is no longer a reason to buy it today. In contrast, the F40's Luddite-approach is part of its charm. The last of the unassisted supercars. And the ultimate one. To make a more powerful one is to make an undrivable car.

I suspect the battery technology in the 918 will soon find itself leapfrogged. A couple of years after its launch, the 918 will be outdated.

However, it is beautiful. And beauty is forgived a million sins.

 

No really a fair statment, since no Real effort by any of the Corse Clienty "works" teams was ever made, since Ferrari considers VLN, and N24 below the ACO/FIA GTE class.. which it is

 

Weak Sauce.

No Ferrari has never won the 24 Hours of Nurburgring and many have tried. When the factory cared about Sports Car racing they did win the 1000K race at The Nurburgring. The Fanbacher 458 effort last year had FULL Factory (Michelleto) support. The Macca effort was very serious this year (4 cars). The 24 hours of Nurburburg is the most brutal 24 hour race in existence. Audi, Porsche, Aston, BMW, Lotus, Jaguar, VW, McLaren, Toyota etc, etc, etc and ALL the major tire manufactures realize this and not only race there they use the Ring and The 24 to develop their cars and tires including the ones Ferrari uses on their street cars. The last Ferrari Supercar (Enzo) couldn't even complete one lap before it's suspension overheated. More people attend the 24 Hours of Nurburgring than Le Mans, The 24 Hours of Daytona, Sebring, SPA, Watkins Glen, or any ACO or Grand AM race. This year the 24 Hours of Nurburging is an FIA world Championship by itself. (Alternate Energy GT which both the 918, Next Enzo, and New McLaren Supercar will be)

What the average car guy thinks is much more important that what Ferrari who hasn't Won (1 OA) a major sports cars race for many years thinks about the Ring and the average car guy measures all cars against how fast they can go around the Ring. Ferrari's fastest is far behind my friend Pagani in that Metric and will be even even further behind when HP takes his latest there soon. He's betting 6:37. Think the new Super Enzo will beat that?

 

And that is their problem. They are not in touch in my opinion.

 

You mean 6:37 with a Huayra? Or is he planning a second attempt with the Zonda R?

 

New higher HP Zonda R.

 

That is VERY True.

 

Sort of Zonda R Evo?

 

Yes.