What's Wrong With This Picture: Porsche 928 Reborn Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The Porsche Consulting website previews the look of a forthcoming two-door GT based on the Panamera architecture. And surprise! It looks like a flattened 911. Who could have seen that coming?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Seanx37 Seanx37 on Jun 22, 2010

    Am I a bad Porsche fan that if I actually prefer the 928 over the 911? I think it is just that I am from Detroit, well Warren. And those of us from Warren and Detroit think anything can be made better by shoving a V8 under the hood. And the 928 has a V8.

  • Akitadog Akitadog on Jun 23, 2010

    What's wrong is that the sketch is an Aston Martin V8 Vantage with Porsche headlights grafted onto it.

  • Vaujot Vaujot on Jun 23, 2010

    Porschespeed, I challenge you to back up your statements with some facts, i.e. sales figures. In particular the following: - 928 was axed because of politics rather than sales. - 911 hasn't impressed Porschefiles since the 914-6? (not even sure what that is supposed to mean, in any event I can introduce you to plenty of Porschefiles that are fans of the 997, especially the GT3). - 911 sales are irrelevant. Please check how many were sold in the last ten years and then consider that it shares a lot of the Boxster's/Cayman's technology while selling at a significantly higher price. You are fully entitled to your dislike of the 911 but a lot of your statements are not rooted in fact. For the record, I am a fan of the transaxle models but one has to admit that the 928 in its last years didn't sell. Same for the 968 and later versions of the 944, once they got too expensive for a four-cylinder car.

    • Porschespeed Porschespeed on Jun 24, 2010

      Vaujot, Fair enough. -You are correct. Sales of the 928 pretty well dropped off the cliff, post 1989. If one presumes that the 928 enjoyed the same political support internally as the 911 then one could extrapolate the 928 received development resources on par with the 911. If you wish to read a few books about Porsche, you will find that wasn't the case. Especially post '88ish. All companies product lines are determined by internal politics as much as any other consideration. There was a brief moment in time when one could buy a Camaro that was faster than a 'Vette. That was quashed rather quickly, but it's just one tiny example. - Porschephiles. Until the 928 all Porsches were based on VWs in some way. One can argue that Herr Doktor was responsible for the VW so, by extension, a VW-based Porsche (911) is kind of a Porsche. But Porsche didn't claim that. As Porsche itself claims that the first 'pure Porsche' was the 928, I don't view 911 fans as Porschephiles. Ultimate Beetle-Evo fans and tuners? Sure. -In the final analysis, the 911 is a drag on the company. It takes tons of time and resources to keep it close to relevant. One of the biggest mistakes in parenting history was when the Old Man indulged Butzi's ridiculous idea to hang the engine off the ass-end. Apparently he hoped his kid would learn from the mistake. Sadly, he instead polished the turd. There' a reason that NO other car in Porsche's (or anyone else's) street or racing stable has ever placed the engine where it doesn't belong. - 944/951/968 did die from lack of sales, which was, once again, due to lack of attention, which produced the scenario where they were too expensive for what they did. Same fate as the 928. The 928 GT/S could have easily been a turbocharged 550 HP beast in the early 90s. Wouldn't have had any problem selling them at 120K a pop. A 968 was also easily turbocharged (even back then) and that made it a formidable car. There were many political considerations, one of which was a 968T was better in every dimension than a 911. If the 911 goes away tomorrow, there might be a loss of 1K sales. Maybe. The unknowing image buyer (majority of 911 buyers) will buy whatever Porsche tells him is the coolest thing to drop his broker's bonus on. BTW, they're already moving to the Panamera. The racing 911 buyer buys a 911 for the same reason a racer buys a 350 Chevy. It's not the best, but there's a ton of off-the-shelf parts and support. Once the Cayman becomes the defacto race standard, the 911 will evaporate on the track. The 911 (and Porsche) are only here because of the 914/924/944/951/968/928/Boxster/Cayenne. Please read any of the interviews with the guys running Porsche. If you like the 911, that's up to you. But Porsche will survive when the 911 is finally put out to pasture.

  • Jkross22 Jkross22 on Jun 23, 2010

    What's wrong is that only people 5'4 and under would fit in this car as designed. And there is no shortcut to success.

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