Porsche's new strategy-What say you! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Brucelee · 12-08-2005, 06:19 AM

The CEO of Porsche indicated that the company will expand the line to include:

The Panamerica-4 door touring model

A smaller SUV to go with the Cayenne

The Cayman S-alread announced of course.

Other cars of interest.

The funniest thing he said was that the Cayman S would be appealing to the young buyer. How many young buyers have 60 large sitting around?

Perhaps YOUNG is a relative word, no?

What say you?

RandallNeighbour · 12-08-2005, 06:53 AM

I think the Panamerica is simply a sedan they're bringing out to have one in the lineup. Few will be sold. It's just for bragging rights around the head office in Germany.

The smaller SUV, if quite inexpensive compared to the Cayenne, will sell well to younger people, say late 20's with a great job, and mostly sold to early 30's people who want a Porsche, feel the need for an SUV, but can't afford a Cayenne.

The "young" buyer to which they are referring is the sort of buyer who never thought that the best Porsche was air cooled and had the engine in the rear. That's my guess anyway.

Perfectlap · 12-08-2005, 07:52 AM

I think the Panamerica will the "Bentley" of the Porsche line up.
Big Power and BIG price tag. A 'celebrity' must have.

I would be careful if I were the Porsche dudes with introducing a smaller
cheaper Cayenne. Porsche is an exclusive brand with very low production
numbers compared to Merc and BMW. Cars like the X3 and ML would water
down the Porsche marquee.

I think they should give serious thought to having more than one Coupe.
The Cayman and the 997 aren't enough of a line up for the fufure.
Perhaps revamping one of the front engine Coupes would be a nice way of rounding up the line up.

btw, in these NYC/NJ/CT neck of the woods where millions commute to high paying Wall Street, Finance, Legal jobs every morning, the number of under 27 year olds making low to mid six figures is mind blowing. I have friends who are asking me about Porsche cars who tell me they just received year end bonuses equal to their six figure salaries! The rift between middle class youth and wealthy young professionals is getting bigger.
God I hope one of them buys a CaymanS so I can take him to at least an autcross.

limoncello · 12-08-2005, 08:54 AM

Wall Street Journal has an article today (12/8) on the new Porsche strategy - wonders if it will work and ponders the risks involved - i.e. will the increased development costs of adding the new models be recovered. Hope so.

KRZTACO · 12-08-2005, 08:59 AM

Damn I would have bought an entry level Porsche SUV. I just got an BMW X3 for my wife.

When you look at that "Entry Level" Luxury SUV category there is nothing out there:

BMW X3
Land Rover

KRZ

SD987 · 12-08-2005, 09:50 AM

I had a X3 3.0, with a stick shift no less, as a dealer loaner. That car was serious fun (and I'm an SUV-hata)...Enjoy !

airboxster · 12-08-2005, 06:22 PM

My bet is the four door will be very successful. There is probably an existing customer demographics of Porsche owners who now own someone else’s high-end 4 door. Porsche is probably counting on converting the converted plus others who don’t own a Porsche. Who would have thought they would have sold so many Cayennes? Many will believe a 911 and Panamerica in the garage is a beautiful thing.

Ronzi · 12-10-2005, 07:08 PM

Two years ago I was talking to a salesman in one of the local Porsche dealerships, and asked him what sales were like in Dec. He said they sold 19 Cayennes, 2 911s and 0 Boxsters. Without the Cayenne, they might as well have closed the showroom until after the first of the year.
While all of us on this forum are certified sports car nuts, the fact of the business is that the majority of car buyers could not care less about a car with two seats an no luggage room to speak of.
The dealership I was in will probably sell a dozen Panameras a month by accident to people that came in to look at an A8 or some such.
Porsche is desperate to break 100,000 units a year, and the only way they can do it is to introduce cars that appeal to non-traditional Porsche buyers.
As for the Cayman, Porsche has variously defined the target market as "sporting drivers" and now "younger drivers". This tells me that they aren't sure where the market for that car really is. In any event, welding a top on the Box was an easy and probably cheap development project, and filled a presumed gap in their product line between the Boxster and the 911.

deliriousga · 12-10-2005, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brucelee

The CEO of Porsche indicated that the company will expand the line to include:

The Panamerica-4 door touring model

A smaller SUV to go with the Cayenne

The Cayman S-alread announced of course.

Other cars of interest.

The funniest thing he said was that the Cayman S would be appealing to the young buyer. How many young buyers have 60 large sitting around?

Perhaps YOUNG is a relative word, no?

What say you?

I thought they called the new 4-door the "Panamera". Did they change the name or just an oops?

I think it will be a great seller because people looking for something bigger that can hold the kids, but is not an SUV and still has sports car handling. It's a great looking car and the 400+ horses don't hurt either.

Brucelee · 12-11-2005, 05:42 AM

That was a typo.

luxury1 · 12-11-2005, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I would be careful if I were the Porsche dudes with introducing a smaller
cheaper Cayenne. Porsche is an exclusive brand with very low production
numbers compared to Merc and BMW. Cars like the X3 and ML would water
down the Porsche marquee.

Maybe, but many car companies are trying to get younger buyers into their cars and keep them for life. Toyota for instance might start someone with a corolla and move them through to the Lexus LS.

Not saying that porsche should go corolla cheap but I think they have room to start a little lower like the X3 market in order to attract younger buyers.

Brucelee · 12-11-2005, 10:36 AM

In addition to the massive R and D that this will entail, it will require a very large scale retooling of the dealer/service network.

I know the dealer I use will likely have to relocate.

Food for thought!

blinkwatt · 12-11-2005, 10:41 AM

Porsche is going to do themself in like they did in the late 80s early 90s.

Brucelee · 12-11-2005, 01:12 PM

The interesting thing is that they already have the highest profit margin in the industry.

I did forget to mention the recent investment in VW. Good money after bad?

Ronzi · 12-13-2005, 10:04 AM

Apparently Porsche thinks it's good money to protect it's supplier of the Cayenne, and maybe the upcoming Panamera as well, from a hostile takeover.
Three billion Euro is not exactly pocket change, but then what is the value of the Cayenne production?

Ghostrider 310 · 12-15-2005, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

Porsche is going to do themself in like they did in the late 80s early 90s.

I thought this when they announced the Cayenne and the sales numbers are fantastic. As much as I'd like to see Porsche be like Ferrari and stick to making rockets critics be dammed, they really cannot afford to do that. Supply and demand boys, give the consumer what they want, and make it right. Something the US manufacturers better start doing.