986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

mikefocke · 12-22-2010, 05:36 PM

Why did Porsche develop a mass market engine in addition to the older high end design they still use on some cars?

Because they had to achieve a profit or go out of business. Volume and low manufacturing cost lead to profit. Long production runs with the same basic design allow development costs to be amortized over many more units. Same reason the '97 Boxster used the 996's front endparts.

You can hand build a limited number of engines in cars that sell for $100k but not for one that you sell in volume for as low as $40k or even one that sells for $70k.

12-22-2010, 05:36 PM	#11
mikefocke Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sanford NC Posts: 2,591	A million is a big number. Why did Porsche develop a mass market engine in addition to the older high end design they still use on some cars? Because they had to achieve a profit or go out of business. Volume and low manufacturing cost lead to profit. Long production runs with the same basic design allow development costs to be amortized over many more units. Same reason the '97 Boxster used the 996's front endparts. You can hand build a limited number of engines in cars that sell for $100k but not for one that you sell in volume for as low as $40k or even one that sells for $70k.