Quote:
Moogle said:
Despite how disillusioned I have become with Porsche lately...
I have to agree that from a marketing as well as end user perspective, the 911 is perfect. It dominates the market for a 60-120k high end luxury sports car.
The only problem is that it will never be considered an exotic due to Porsche putting it's logo on trucks and sedans. And let's face it, it is ubiquitous.
There are plenty of cheaper, more powerful cars out there, Vette Z06/Nissan GT3/etc... but the 911 continues to be a better choice for someone who likes to think they have "class" (I hate that word).
In the end, the real problem is - when selecting a sportscar in the 911's price range, the choice is too obvious to choose anything BUT a 911. That's precisely what makes it uninteresting to me (after owning several).
The Turbo/GT3/GT2 are gems that will always be raved about, but they've made so many vanilla models (that includes the whole porsche range) that the marque seems very diluted...
You can't claim to be a thoroughbred breeder if 95% of what you produce is mediocre compared to the very few truly excellent progeny.
Some valid points above!
But also consider:
Most of these ultra "exclusive" "thoroughbred" brands are either dead or constantly in intensive therapy looking for donors or changing hands like hot potatoes.
More stable brands like Ferrari or a Lamborghini might be more special and for some better performing than a Porsche, but not everybody can afford to buy and especially run and maintain one.
What's more, their flamboyant style and their middle east or SE Asia playboy image is too vulgar for more "classy" people.
From time to time a mass producer will come up with a special car like a Supra or an NSX and recently GT-R, R8 but the impact of these cars is limited to a small % of car buyers. Moreover, people like more to talk about these cars(like here on rennteam for example) than spend money on one.
The Corvette is a good, value for money performance car but totally irrelevant outside North America.