"Porsche CEO drops plan for entry-level model" As appeard in Yahoo! News http://finance.yahoo.com/news/porsche-ceo-drops-plan-entry-094007232.html ..BERLIN (Reuters) - German sports car maker Porsche (VOW3.DE)(PAH3.DE) has dropped plans to build a two-seater vehicle which would have been smaller and cheaper than its Boxster model, Stuttgarter Zeitung reported on Saturday, citing Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mueller. Such plans would risk diluting the brand and alienate traditional customers, according to Mueller. "We would do no good to the brand if we were to lose traditional Porsche customers" by pursuing a smaller Boxster model, the CEO was quoted as saying in an interview. Mueller said Porsche also has no immediate plans to develop a smaller version of its four-door Panamera sedan, though he indicated that such a model could become an option in five or six years. Porsche is aiming to increase annual deliveries to about 200,000 sports cars and SUVs by taking advantage of resources at Volkswagen. Europe's largest auto manufacturer owns 49.9 percent of Porsche's core business and is currently examining ways to purchase the remainder. I say bollox!!! Thats what Porsche needs! It's not about alienating customers, its about making a ****load of money on luxury barges.
Not quite sure what you've driven but 'BARGES' - nah I don't think so .... some may not be pleasant to everyones eyes but they do in fact go and handle quite well straight out of the factory....
Kind of glad to see this announcement. With the Boxster/Cayman, Porsche has just about the best sports car platform anywhere. Not sure what they'd accomplish with a worse but cheaper version to build volume.
Well the Boxster is for people who can't afford the Cayman and the Cayman for those that cannot afford a real 911, so given that....why not make a crappy little car that's even worse than the Boxster Secretary-Spec?
Not to mention the never ending beetle jokes. I drive one though, so I have a right to make as many beetle jokes as deemed necessary.
IMO when you factor in steep depreciation, Porsche is currently pricing themselves out of the market. It would seem that their buyer pool would be getting smaller as a result. Maybe that's why they're opting for raising sticker prices, to make up for it?
