Boxster Sales Article

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by Topless

I consider myself fortunate to own a vehicle from the top autmotive companies from the US, Japan and Germany.

05 Chevy truck: 45k hard miles and nearly flawless( the CD player stopped working recently. It gets lousey gas mileage and wallows through a turn like a double ended keelboat in heavy seas.

00 Lexus: 165K miles and flawless. It still looks nearly new and nothing has ever failed on it...ever. Only regular PM and fluids. It drives like a leather couch on wheels. I nearly have to take NoDoze before driving it...so smooth...and so boring.

98 Boxter: 68k miles, no major problems, lots of little nusiance failures. CEL, coolant tank, soft top relay loose, nursing the plastic rear window, key issues, and surely the most fun I have ever had on 4 wheels. I have gone a lot faster, I have had a lot more HP, but nothing else was nearly as much fun as my little Box.

From my perspective German cars (Porsche Audi BMW Benz VW) are way ahead in terms of tactile driving experience and way behind in terms of nusiance failures.
If Porsche really wants to sell more cars they can no longer afford to build cars with all these little annoyances. It is not rocket science. Even lowly Hyundai has figured this out and its new cars are excellent quality throughout. Just do what the Japanese do and assign a team to "engineer out" nuisance failures like RMS, window mechanism, ign switch, soft top mech, CEL, coolant tank etc. If we can put a man on the moon surely we can overcome these simple failures. Every major US and JP car Mfg. is working towards this.

By making their cars more "owner friendly" they will attract a much larger market share who are no longer afraid to "Buy German".

Hi,

You make several points, but remember, it was the US which put a man on the moon, not the Federal Republic of Germany...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[longislander1]

After owning mostly premium German or Japanese cars, I continue to be astonished by the quality, durability, handling and acceleration of my $22K built-in-Michigan Mazda Tribute. I originally bought it as a station car and had fairly low expectations, but now I use it as a daily driver in bad weather and in the winter. I know we're talking apples and oranges here, but I'm already starting to get rattles in the 987S at 6300 miles, while the Mazda, which I drive fairly hard, is still as tight as a drum at over 47K. As I've reported here before, my Mazda dealer service is excellent.

I think we're now in a period where you don't have to spend a lot of money to ensure quality. When it comes to sports cars, that should be a warning sign for Porsche that it's time to offer more value and better customer service.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

You make several points, but remember, it was the US which put a man on the moon, not the Federal Republic of Germany...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

This is true. But it was Von Braun, the former German rocket scientist who brought us the technology for a sucessful launch vehicle.

There are some very bright engineers in the German auto industry. I just fear that they may be blindly following the failed policy of "planned obsolesence" that nearly wiped out US auto makers during the 80's. Toyota/Lexus has shown us that in a world market, having people clammoring to buy one because your product is so good is far more effective than forcing them to buy another one because the car they bought 3 years ago is falling apart.

[Onad]

As a public company Porsche is going to try and increase their profits and seek a larger share of the overall car market. That's why we have an SUV now and 4-door sedan on the way. For Porsche at least, the Boxster/Cayman is an entry-level model for the brand and I think they'll need to keep in the $45K game if they want to continue to bring new "life-long" buyers into the fold.

In regards to decreasing Boxster sales: I think Boxster sales are down because only people like us see the differences in the 986 and 987. In the long term-- if Porsche is going to keep the Boxster around-- it's a good strategy (look at the 911). But if they drop the Boxster due to poor sales, then I think they can contribute that drop in sales to a percieved lack of evolution in the model range. Right now the average potential new car roadster buyer sees an updated Z4 and SLK along with a Boxster and S2000 that look the same as they did ten years ago (though we know that both are improved). Maybe that buyer needs more evolution to get them into dealerships.