racerx:
Maybe to you.
Maybe, but lets just say of the POrsche customers there is a lot of "me's" and very little of you's out there in the world hence things are the way they were and are, and Porsche does things accordingly. 911 was, is and will be the reference in Porsche (that doesn't mean Porsche does not make other good models).
That has been porsches problem for the last 14 years. Thats why Aston, ferrari and lambo have surpassed them in performance, looks, sound, tech, and desirability. With audi, maserati, bww, and merc being equal.
Surpassed? , too unreal to comment.
17 years, most of it as the number 1 production car available is what you call "came and went".
Yes. 944, 928, 968... came and went, they had their reason for being produced at certain times durting the history of Porsche but ended going out of production when they outlived their usefulness...
This 911 stuff is nomenclature. The ferrari 8 cylinder "platform" could have been called the same name all these years because it has done the same even less change than the 911. Mid engine 8 cylinder coupe with engine upgrades. Didn't change from air cooling to water cooling. Remember Carlos, air cooling, the raison d'etre for 911's.
Rear-engined flat-6 platform. Unique and unchanged, just evolved over the years and the reference to which all other sportcars are compared to even to this date.
Boxster and cayenne + hedging got porsche thru the tough times. 911's didn't sell in the early 90's either.
There have been numerous hard times besides the 90's, the only constant is the 911 which always sold well relative to the times and market, and now sells more and is more succesfull than ever.
Porsches average person fame came from the 928 and movies. Porsche's racing pedigree came from the 917, 956, and 962 at Lemans and endurance circuits. And from the TAG turbo domination in the mid 1980's. No one watches GT class races. No one cares about 911's running around sebring or whereever.
We all know of your unrealistic infatuation with a 20 year old front engined four seater GT Porsche so I'm not going to give you a reality check because (1) I don't want to be mean even its not my intention to be (2) whats the point, its not going to change anything and you will just get more irrational, but don't let that infatuation make you resentful towards the 911 because it was chose in favor of the 928 when one went out of production.
Look at sales totals for 911's. Porsche could not survive on those few sales. The cayenne and boxster kept Porsche afloat.
One model can't sustain a company but the one that has been constant in the last 4 decades of Porsche history was the 911.
NOPE, hopefully Piech broadens the range and throws some effort into luxury and better design. Porsche racing died about the same time as Al Holbert. Porsche should become VW's answer to Merc's AMG line-up.
Porsche can broaden what ever they like, but at the heart of it will be the 911, always has and is the flagship model for Porsche, its image, its core fans, its history, etc. This is my point, they may bring new models, modify the ones they have, etc but they won't be steering away from the 911, the 911 is selling better than ever, it gets more coverage than any other model in the line up, has the most fans, and is the only model in the line to which Porsche has the recepy for and no one else in the industry can tap into, and a versatile platform at that that allows Porsche to extend to the Cab market, AWD market, track market, 2+2 market, Turbo market, supercar market, coupe market, etc with just one platform.
However, VW answer to Mercs AMG line up and BMW's is evident that its already AUDI and has been for some time now, and they aren't as stupid as to morph an already succesfull and unique company to compete in everything with another of one of their companies. Porsche is a different player and company.
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