Porsche Faces "Mild Recession" With Spicier Cayenne

by Frank Williams

Published: February 8th, 2008

porsche faces mild recession with spicier cayenne

The AP reports that Porsche's U.S. sales are falling, particularly in the past two to three months. (As have sales of BMW, Ferrari, Lexus, Jaguar and Lincoln.) Porsche Prez and CEO Peter Schwarzenbauer reckons the luxury car segment will have a tough time compared to 2007. Meanwhile… Porsche has unveiled their latest Cayenne variant at the Chicago Auto Show. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports the Cayenne GTS is powered by a 4.8-liter direct-injected V8 putting out 425 hp (the Porsche press release says 405). Regardless, it'll be enough horsepower to slot the hotrod SUV between the Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo. The GTS will be available with a six-speed manual transmission, making it the first Porsche to offer both a V8 and a six-speed. While we're down with Porsche's commitment to vehicular evolution (however incremental), you have to wonder why the Sultans of Stuttgart are putting this much effort into an SUV– when the same drivetrain would be perfect for a resurrection of the 928. A move like that would make a lot more sense for the sports car brand than the hybrid Cayennes and four-door Panameras about to start rolling out of Stuttgart. Just sayin'…

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4 of 11 comments

JJ on Feb 09, 2008
Because the reason (or one of them) Porsche axed the 928 was because it ate into 911 sales. The 928 was actually intended to replace the 911 at first, so therefore intended to eat all the sales. At the time it was launched Porsche only offered one remaining version of the 911 (in 78). Ultimately things worked out a little different. Still, luckily for Porsche there were enough differnces between the models to have a market for both, although the 928 was never really a big succes, especially not in Europe. The 928 was very American compared to the 911's Europeanness. Nowadays though I don't think they can pull of another 928. First of all because it would and should be better in a lot of ways than the 911 to make it marketable, killing the 911 and the 911 brand. And second, there is much more credible competition in the market it would operate in now than back then (Aston Martin, Maserati, Jaguar). In fact, thinking about it, the new 928 exists already, it's called 911 Turbo. It's heavy, has got effortless power, luxury and the handling is easier and more boring than ever before. Yes, the engine is still in the back but it makes no differnce because no-one notices that by driving due to all the electronic aides and 4 wheel drive. The real new Turbo is called GT2 these days. And the Cayenne, Panamera and buying VW are all stupid. Especially buying VW.

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Jthorner on Feb 10, 2008

Now that the dot bombers, house flippers and the rest of the easy money crowd have crashed and burned the market for Porsches is going to contract big time. Nobody needs one. They are sold to people who want to flaunt their ability to buy. The only reason to buy a Porsche SUV is to flash your cash ... even if you don't have the cash but instead have an over $1000/month payment/lease.

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Detroit-Iron on Feb 10, 2008

I believe the 928 was intended as I high-end Corvette competitor. Porsche needs to be careful of falling into the GM trap of thinking that they are only competing with themselves and crippling models to prevent them from competing with other vehicles in their fleet (ahem, no turbo caymen/boxster 'cause it might hurt 911 sales). There are other luxury manufacturers who compete in Porsche's space.

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Detroit-Iron on Feb 10, 2008

BTW the manual tranny is a joke. The only a-holes with enough excess cash and and big enough brain-cell deficit to consider such a turd live in places where traffic makes a manual untenable.

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