Re: OFFICIAL: 991 Turbo and Turbo S
Grant:
Looks like Nissan is fighting back at the new performance offered in the 991TTS with an improved GT-R with Ring time claimed at 7:08 (much faster than any current Porsche, save the 918)
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/18/2015-nissan-gt-r-nismo-595-hp-leaked/
This is just the typical Nissan marketing crap. Like the well known 2.7 seconds claim...or should I better say lie, which follows me on various airports (Nissan has ads everywhere).
The 918 record was officially acknowledged, the 7:08 min Nissan claims are...factory claims. The GT-R Nismo will have to prove itself in the Supertest, before that, I do not believe Nissan a thing.
However: It was to be expected that manufacturers like Nissan or even others would start to challenge Porsche and their new Turbo S. The performance gap between the new Turbo S and the "older" competition models is not wide enough, I have told this Porsche over and over again but they seem to be confident that it wouldn't hurt their Turbo S sales. I'm not so sure about this. In my opinion, Porsche should get a huge performance advantage over the competition, to keep them at bay, even their next generation competitor model. This is the best way to keep sales up and to create some sort of a reputation for a car.
I get it: The new Turbo S is amazingly fast and easy to drive fast and whatever but in the end, this won't be enough to justify the much higher price tag compared to a Nissan GT-R for example. Yes, the GT-R may not be a real competitor (I would never buy one) but the GT-R Nismo alone as an offer on the market hurts the 911 Turbo S reputation and Porsche needs to be aware of that.
It is a Porsche as a sales argument may have had some value in the past but with 150000 Porsche produced and nearing the 200000 number with the Macan, maybe even more cars, the it is a Porsche sales argument fades away I'm afraid.
I have very fond memories of the 993 Turbo and how this car wiped the floor with the competition when it came out. Is it really so difficult for Porsche to repeat history? Yes, the new 991 Turbo S is amazing...now. What about in 6 or 12 months? Of course there will be a facelift in three years or so but does here someone really believe that the 991 Turbo S will be able to keep the competition at bay for another three years? Also, the facelift will very likely only include a "minor" power bump of 30-40 hp. Will it be enough in three years? I doubt it.
It is always good to stay ahead of the competition but I'm afraid that next year, the competition starts shooting back.
Btw: The mentioned GT-R Nismo won't be the bargain the base model is as far as I heard. Still cheaper than the new 991 Turbo S though.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Turbo S, Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2013)