Ron (Houston):

Very interesting point of view.

I hope VW would just concentrate on 911 and Boxster as the only lines of products and leave the SUV and 4-door sedan to AUDI and VW.  I just hope they won't come up with a mixture of a car called AuLamSche for audi, lambo and porsche Smiley.

 

The nightmare of an AuLamSche might be realised in a few years time, especially when VAG have already conceived a Lambaudi(LP560) and Audigini(R8 V10). No to mention the Bentley Continental GT which is merely a VW schnitzel from Thursday, reheated and sprinkled with British grown parsleySmiley. Major corporations suffer from astronomial overheads which are best covered by cutting corners through platform sharing and if Porsche and VW join hands in an unholy matrimony, the 911 will be the one and only "unique" car -- this because it's RWD and can thus share very little with cars sporting a different configuration. All other cars, R8/Gallardo, Phaeton/Flyingspur, A8/Arnage/Panamera, Q7/Toureg/Cayenne, A4/Passat, TT/Boxster and Golf/A4 can share component on an infinite number of levels

Narrowing the Porsche line-up down to the Boxster and 911 would be an option, but not a viable one given that the Boxster and TT would conform into an indentical car with different packaging and options. Porsche walking on the thin line between survival and bankruptsy in the later 1980 was the effect of the limited product offerings. As extraordinary as the 911 is, it does a poor job supporting an entire corporation on its own. This because of the each generation is almost indifferent to its successor and predeccessor. Sure there are techological improvements to speak of as well as a few more buttons and fancier head/tail light -- but to the general public, they all look the same. Without any new product supporting the 911, there will be close to zero people coming in through the doors of Porsche showrooms. Every year there either needs to be a facelift, a new model or a generation presented in order to excite customers and get them to trade up or exsiting customers to buy a second car. Besides that, Porsche is a for ever changed company after the smashing success of the Cayenne. They can impossibally turn their back to making money off a four door car. It's the Cayenne that single handedly opened the gates to premium 70k SUVs.

As much as I share the sentiment of many of you fellow Porsche enthusiasts, we shall not forget that Porsche are a company, and one that needs to survive. The airline and automotive industries constitutes as the most cut-throat industries. One year you're floating on skyrocketing sales and the next year, a wrong decision can lead to a speedy journey towards chapter 11. Porsche have tasted both sides -- last year they were floating on clouds as a hedge fund, and today they are their knees with an uncertain future ahead.