Re: Brand
Porsche cars are just fine the way they are!!! No need for change at all!!! Simply reduce their price to compete in the appropriate market segment.
Take this as you wish, but a 911 should be the same price as an M3/standard Corvette, with options being realistically priced. I think it's ridiculous that you can option an $80k car past the $100k mark. The boxster should also be about $15-20k less than it is today. Also, bring the Turbo/GT3 down to just above Z06/Viper price levels $85k. Not sure what to do with the overpriced GT2, but I would consider by cutting the cost 40% as a start.
But...Porsche will never do this! They know that with their current customer base, they can charge whatever they please (similiar to Ferrari, but in a more conservative way), regardless of performance, and have sucessfully done so with pure image.
At this point, to maintain their current pricing strategy, I beleive Porsche will turn their cars into more luxo-touring cars than real sports cars (like they were in previous years)...if this hasn't already happened.
While companies like Porsche will rest on it's laurels and marginally improve...cars like Lotus, Corvette, Noble and the vast number of Asian imports will continually re-invent their designs, and take BOLD steps to improve their cars every year, not every 10.
In my opinion, I think you'll see manufacturers not trying to compete directly with a Ferrari Enzo/CGT, but rather to try and match it's performance for 1/10th the price... Hence, what the Lotus does to most cars in the sub $70k market, and what the Z06 does to cars in the sub $200k market.
But on the other hand, you don't buy a Bently because of new radical/economical design, so there will always be Porsche fans, just less and less of them every year.
