By that definition then you can have a lot of companies in any one field which are successful (eg. their products go away from the mainstream in order to survive). How are you one of the most successful by doing that? You're not really in the top echelon of companies with the big players, so well.. you know what I mean.

 

A small car company that's profitable, and still independent while bucking the trend. Although their cars are more expensive than those in the same performance range they continue to sell very well. They don't play to win the horespower war, and they continue to build a sports car with the engine in the back. The engineering and marketing plan they execute to achieve the points above is genius.

 

The thing is for how long will they still be able to remain independent in the next decade or so. They do sell pretty well so far and their growth in sales and profits show it. But the trend for them is to go mainstream and so at some point they might consider making luxury cars and/or go for other segments in the auto industry and from there who knows how well their products will sell. After all, who would've thought during the 90s that Porsche would ever make an SUV. Yet they did...

 

That is a good question.

 

I was being sarcastic. I believe they have the highest net profit per unit sold which I believe is one of several things that makes them succesful. But the fact of the matter is that they have had to make some philosophical changes to remain independent.

 

Exactly. It is not always about numbers at the track. So many things make a car desirable.

And just because an automotive writer at C&D says something about one car or the other does not make it gospel.

Each to his/her own. Buy what you really like based on what is important to you. That's all that matters. At the end of the day, you are driving the car and you are willingly living with it. Very simple!

Lexus stigma? What stigma? I absolutely love my Lexus and plan to keep it indefinitely! It is a classic design and looks amazing even 7 years after it was introduced.

I also plan to get a 997 one day!

 

So buy a used 96 TT for $60-65k and show your tail pipes to almost any other car. I've never been a big Corvette fan, although they certainly do keep getting better. They're just too Americanized for me. Once you've owned a Porsche, there is no substitute regardless of price. If you only have $46k to spend, the Corvette is hard to beat. You just need to allocate more income to your prize wheels.

 

Its a Corvette... what do you think I think about it...

 

Here's some interesting info.. http://biz.yahoo.com/fool/041124/1101313860_1.html

Porsche wants to use Toyota hybrid tech for their Cayenne model...!?? Could this be the beginning of a number of things to come in Porsche's future?

 

Toyota is currently one of the world leaders in the hybrid technology. Porsche know what they are doing by partnering with them.

Preliminary numbers of the application of this technology in the upcoming hybrid GS350 GT AWD in 2007 is 400 HP from a 3.5 litre six cyclinder gasoline engine driving the rear wheels coupled with two electric motors driving the front wheels. Insane HP from a 3.5 6 cylinder with amazing fuel economy.

Lexus will revolutionize the performance sendan market place in the near future with this technology.

 

How much hp are the two electric motors making vs the gas engine?

 

I think the Gas engine is putting out 230 - 250 HP and the electric motors are putting out another 200 HP or so. The two numbers summed up do not make up the 400 HP total.

I will look for the technical article regarding this and post it up later.

 

A couple of links that provide more detail on this technology:

http://paris04.lexus-europe.com/hybr...logy/index.asp

http://en.lexus-hybrid.com/how/index.html

http://www.lexus.com/models/hybrid/index.html

 

One more dimension from my POV: the 997 looks drop dead gorgeous!

The Corvette is damned good looking too but the 997 is just stunning to my eye.

Every time I walk into my garage and every time I leave it, I'm on a high.

That's why I walked away from BMW after so many years with the advent of Bangle.

I wanted a car, just one car, that was sensual beyond words. No compromise. And my 997S in Arctic Silver is just that, to my eye.

Beyond the performance, beyond even the wonderful balanced handling, is the visceral visual experience.

I just couldn't feel that way, personally, about the Corvette, though I love the concept: sensational performance and sleek lines for so much less.

Two great cars. To each his own.

 

I love my Turbo, but if I couldn't afford one with the M64 block, I'll be taking a long and hard look at the C6 Z06, as much as it pains me.

Porsche is no longer a sports car company, not when they start churning out that VW truck with the P crest. Everyone identifies Ferrari as a sports car company. Why is that? Gee, maybe because they actually make sports cars, and not some badge unworthy VW trucks. Does the line "oh, I like thie new SUV" sound like it is properly referring to a sports car company?

The regular 996/997's are nothing more than profit generators for an ex-sports car company. Before 996, all 911's have dry sump block that was raced by PAG. Then, the light bulb went on, and they stuck a POS M96 punched out Boxster block in all regular 996's and 997's, and are making $$ hand over fist, while sticking it to all the badge ****** who thought that there was something race bred about their 911's when it was clearly untrue.

Don't blieve me? Why do you think the M64 block is in the GT3? And yes, I know that it's called the M96, in PAG's effort to confuse and mislead the buyers, but M96's found in regular 911's are not derived from the GT1 block, not by a long shot, whereas the one found in the GT2, GT3, and the Turbo are.

That's just one example.

What kind of "sports car" company offers traction control that you can't permanently turn off? Heck, even BMW allows you to turn DSC fully off in their M cars, yet, I can't get rid of ABD in my Turbo, even with PSM off. Perhaps it's to help the general poseur population who has not the slightest clue about RWD 101, but the philosophy is just the same. What happened to the company that used to make cars that will pimp slap any idiot who can't drive a RWD car properly and promptly send him to the ditch iva FedEx for his lack of knowledge and respect for the P car sledge hammer dynamic? Right, they need to sell it to more old men who are looking for 20 year old girlfriends while smoking his cigar and driving a car that shifts itself.

What kind of "sports car" company sticks a poseur friendly suspension on their US bound Turbos? Or make you pay for sports suspension on regular 911's? Or how about the fact that they couldn't even come up with anything better than BMW's SMG2, but instead the fancy torque convertor automatic so fondly defneded by people unable to operate a clutch pedal in traffic?

And the latest rumor is that the Z06 will have a dry sump block, and while it won't dissuade me from getting my GT2 in a few years, it most ceratainly put the last nail on the coffin of any regular 997's for me.

Regular 997's are definitely not worth the $$, not by a long shot.