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I used to work for a Porsche competitor. We used to sneer at the 911 with it's Tatra layout.We dismissed it as an attempted triumph of development over design. We couldn't understand why they hung on to the engine dangling beyond the rear axle. They certainly understood and had proved that the mid engine layout was superior in development cars.Their development was awesome but so misdirected- we thought.
Much later we realized they were in even worse shape financially than even we were and had even more ossified senior management. Then the bean counters took over and they penny pinched what could have been the perfect solution. In the end it cost them way more in reputation and lost customers/sales .
At last they are now closer to getting the DFI cars right - which is great if you have a new one but if you own an older Boxster like me.....
I know some OEM vendors to Porsche and they tell me the Porsche philosophy toward owners of older models is very different to what I was accustomed to with my employer.
Porsche seemed to just turn their back on owners of the models beyond warranty. Ironically this neglectful attitude created an opportunity for the aftermarket to fix Porsche's problems. An opportunity Porsche could have profited from easily because they doubtless had all the engineering resources to correct the issues with upgrades/changes.Instead, Raby is doing it. Just my experience.
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