Will Porsche do themselves in?

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

OK, maybe you're right, I may have misstated Porsche's concern for exclusivity, but to what degree?

The allure of Unit Sales, Expanded Markets and Profits is a strong one, and never more strong than to a Company which is tasting Strong Profits for the 1st time in a long time.

Porsche introduced the Boxster and 914 amidst cries of discontent from the Faithful, even the Cayman will have a dilutive effect on the Flagship 911's sales. With all the Cars they've been selling the past few years, they must be concerned about saturation. If so, what to do? Expanding into new Markets seems to be the most prudent thing to do, and there's much more of a Market moving to Center than away from it.

I'm not even sure that this is a Bad Thing, except for those who want to remain Exclusive. Frankly, I don't comprehend this, I don't feel the least bit exclusive owning a Porsche. It's a very nice Car, but after all, it is just a Car.

Unfortunately, Public Ownership of Companies brings with it an unfortunate necessity, namely posting positive numbers every quarter. Gone are the days when a small group of Owners or an Entrepreneur will take a longterm view and choose to forego Profit in the short term. Add to this that most Senior Managers and Directors Incentives are based more on the Stock Price of a Company. This can cloud their judgement, we've seen this time and again in recent years. They certainly are acting this way with respect to some of the Quality issues which have plagued the Company for the past 5+ years - Major Quality issues, No Recalls, Preserve Profit... to Hell with the Owners.

Porsche is now a very large company and so one should expect that they'll act the part. This means, that the Bygone days are just that - gone. Of course, this is all speculation, but, it will be interesting to see in which direction they actually head...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99