The Turbos Are A-Comin'!

[papasmurf]

Originally Posted by fatmike

Shame they can't just make the car lighter and shrink the engine. 2400 lbs with a 2.5 liter naturally aspirated flat six that revs to 9K. Match it to a short ratio 6 speed and we're in business. That car would be plenty fast and could get great gas mileage./

What would they do with the navigation system, 12 way power and heated seats, 20"+ wheels, etc. Very few buyers would pay the current asking prices for a boxster if it did not include these amenities that are deemed standard for cars in this price range. If they wanted to do the "baby boxster" then I could see it working but then there would be people complaining about the brand being diluted and a car wearing the porsche badge without coming with the kind of options the more expensive models feature. I really wish the baby boxster would have happened but I can see that apart from it being cheaper and lighter, there would not be as much to differentiate it from the boxster to most casual observers and still have strong sales of both cars.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by papasmurf

then there would be people complaining about the brand being diluted ....

that's already here. Porsche will sell 200K cars this year. That will be another million Porsches on the road in just five years. Like a used $6K X5 on Ebay, you'll be able to buy a once $70K Porsche for peanuts. There are not remotely enough used car buyers willing to take on that much supply for out-of-warranty cars that require expensive parts and specialized labor. Unless the seller caves and sells for small money.
Even now, on any given day there are nearly 4,000 water-cooled Carreras on Autotrader for a buyer that needs a 911 in a day. I'm not sure how the brand escapes dilution and ubiquity with an tidal wave of supply no matter what kind of VW turbo engines they're putting in the cars.