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Originally Posted by eslai
That could be quite true, but what does that say about the Cayman? Failure?
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That depends on what the expectations were when the car was introduced. I don't recall ever seeing any numbers from Porsche on how many they expected to sell, but they could be out there somewhere.
There were more than a few folks scratching their heads when the Cayman was intro'd, as to what the sam hill they were up to. Porsche's justification for the car was that it was/is the Porsche for the "sporting driver", whatever that is.
Some folks, me included, felt that it is Porsche's ace-in-the-hole if the 911 series becomes uncompetitive in big-time GT racing. In other words if hanging the lump off the back end of the car is ultimately too much of a drawback to be overcome.
Obviously this hasn't happened yet, but the Ferraris and even the Panoz are nipping at their heels, with what seems to me to be much less development time and money put into the cars. The new 997-based GT3s may put the planets back in their proper orbits ... but maybe not.
In any event, the Cayman was probably a cheap way to pick up a few bucks by sticking a tin top on an existing model, stuff in a bigger motor, and then charge extra for it. A cynical viewpoint, but Porsche has never been accused of leaving a dollar laying on the table when they could grab it.