Quote:
OCEAN said:
Porsche must be happy that 430's can not be had for MSRP or they would loose another group of buyers .



In the US maybe. Over here in Europe, you can have a F430 within 6 months, a Spider within one year and with some "contacts" even much earlier. At MSRP. For a little premium, you can have both models at once, some F430 (not Spider) are already available even without premium.

Ferrari and Porsche buyers are NOT the same group of buyers, especially not in Europe where envy issues play a much bigger role than in the US.

Regarding the Cayenne: the Cayenne looks outdated, already. Porsche wanted to create a timeless design but they still have to learn that there is only ONE Porsche which is accepted for it's timeless design: the 911. All other Porsche models can have any design Porsche desires, they will sell for some time. The Cayenne design was boring from the start, I listened to many sales attempts and talked to many interested customers and either they like it from the start (like older couples or people who just want to drive a Porsche, no matter how it looks) or they hate it. I hated the Cayenne design from the start, I like the Turbo front but that's it. The rear is boring, the side view is horrible and the front (non-Turbo) is plain ugly, sorry. The Cayenne design doesn't look clean, it reminds me of the design of the first 996, a mix of everything. I think that the next Cayenne generation (not facelift!) will look much better and more Porsche-like. Again Porsche failed to step over their own courage, sad.

Porsche planned selling 10000-15000 Cayenne per year. They sold much more. As long as the sales figures don't drop below these figures, Porsche doesn't really have to worry. And one thing is clear: Porsche doesn't want to build right now over 100000-120000 cars per year. So they're happy to have a "healtyh" model mix to reach this number and I suppose this would not be a problem.
In my opinion, the introduction of the Panamera is the most important model introduction for Porsche for decades, not even close to the Cayenne introduction.
Because the Panamera is supposed to "penetrate" a very very important market, the market of the very important luxury limousines. If Porsche succeeds to penetrate this market, longtime success will be guaranteed.
The Cayenne is still important but not that important like people may believe. Don't forget Volkswagen and the Touareg and all the synergy effects from the parallel production, not to speak about the advantages of using VW suppliers and parts.

But of course people like Nick are always looking for the fly in the soup, otherwise they aren't happy.