Quote:
RC said:Yes, Porsche monitors this site and I know they analize comments and use them for marketing evaluation, but I'm not sure this is the reason you post here.



RC, perhaps Nick and Dimitris actually do clandestine work for Porsche. Could they be paid focus-group provocateurs?

I would guess that Porsche fanatics and loyalists can be found with many different levels of enthusiasm and determination. Some are newly in love with the marque, while others have had many decades of automotive experimentation from which they have made up their minds.

Perhaps the Porsche marketing department is on the look-out to gauge the reaction of old-timers, and those deeply in love with the brand, as they try to expand Porsche's appeal to a larger segment of the car-buying public. "How can we attract more customers without losing our base?", might be the question.

Nick and Dimitris are pulling from two different directions against the middle, and maybe they will help Porsche navigate its priorities, depending on our answers.

Nick likes to point out that Ferraris are more exclusive because they have less market penetration (fewer unit sales) than does Porsche. Fewer Porsche sales would make Nick a happier camper, but won't keep Porsche independent or pay for significant R&D, or tooling for new models, to be desireable enough to catch Nick's eye. Catch 22?

Dimitris seems to be saying that cars with soul in their driving dynamics are not sufficient to the American driving experience without Japanese-like extra durability margins for brutal owners (born of necessity by the trip to Japan for warranty work). Japanese cars can be very well engineered (I speak as a repeat customer), but of those that are sold on my shores, very few could be said to have any soul. Of those that do, most show me conspicuously less soul than do Porsches. The Acura NSX is one of the few that comes even close. My wife even has a Japanese sewing machine!

The sweet spot towards which Nick and Dimitris seem to be converging is this: Very few units sold, fantastic desireability, race car handling, pot-hole-proof ride, durability on the order of earth-moving equipment, all at Pacific-rim prices to which they have exclusive access. Do I have it right? Is this even possible in the real world?

But there might be a price to pay for imparting such nuggets of wisdom to this forum in the style to which Nick and Dimitris have become accustomed. Gleefully pointing out flaws in other people's fondest possesions may be entertaining for some forum readers, but it should come as no surprise that it might be regarded the same way as farting in an elevator. One might receive some disapproving comments.

So, let's keep on with more of Porsche's marketing-department focus-group discussions. But, perhaps, we can find a way to use less inflamatory sentence constructions.

P.S. Dimitris, doesn't (two words) "Aston Martin" make GTs and not sports cars? Are they more sporty than a C4S?