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

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.