I saw this article on Bloomberg this morning...anyone have any thoughts?

 

I would say that the future of Porsche is more secure. Some folks do not like the idea but the market for sports cars goes up and down which can be dangerous for a company with a limited product line. Also, in recent years VW has become very profitable. Even now, it is doing relatively well considering the world economy. The reason Porsche has SUVs today is because their sales of sports cars a number of years ago were so low, the company had become threatened. Now they can get rid of models like SUVs and sedans and concentrate on sports cars. The risk I see is the usual claim of the benefit of "synergies". This generally is overstated and more often results in cauing operational problems.

 

I haven't seen the Bloomberg article, however I think that VW can only be a positive thing. They improved the Lambo line, and they brought back Bugatti, and came out with one awesome car in the Veyron. From what I have seen they want to let Porsche focus on sports cars, and let there other brands handle sedans and SUV's.

I think that it will interesting to see how things go.

 

Do you have a link to this article? Thanks.

-Alex

 

Agree with everything said. It's a good thing Porsche will be able to concentrate on making sports cars and not worry about overall sales and profit. Let Audi handle the luxury SUVs and sedans. Only concern maybe the overlapping of high end sports cars between Audi R8s, Gallardos and 911s. As we know R8s are direct competitors with the 911 range so they will have to split the sales on that sector. Then there's talks of a new Porsche Hyper/Supercar which again will be competing against VAGs own Murcielargos and Buggattis.

 

I you think about it, Porsche and VW have been connected for over 70 years. While I too have my doubts about this new official corporate union I not sure it's a bad thing from a financial standpoint. And, given the fact the Porsche still controls 51% of VW's stock, I believe this is a singularly unique situation.

 

[quote=Arerrac911;2625974]Agree with everything said. It's a good thing Porsche will be able to concentrate on making sports cars and not worry about overall sales and profit. Let Audi handle the luxury SUVs and sedans. Only concern maybe the overlapping of high end sports cars between Audi R8s, Gallardos and 911s. As we know R8s are direct competitors with the 911 range so they will have to split the sales on that sector. Then there's talks of a new Porsche Hyper/Supercar which again will be competing against VAGs own Murcielargos and Buggattis.[/quote

Not so fast...did you read the latest article on this in Car and Driver? The whole intent of the merge is to make Porsche more profitable. They intend to double production which risks diluting the brand and jeopardizing used car market. Also, they intend to create several other models leveraging the base of existing models. This sounds a lot like Ford's play with Jag...we know the ending of that story...

Don't want to be negative, but there is much risk here.

 

Proper financial security is normally a good thing. People don't like change, but in today's economy, you must adapt and overcome. So far, it seems that this will only benefit the Porsche brand.

 

I haven't read some of the later articles on this issue. Last time I heard they (VW) were planing to drop the entire Cayenne and Panamera lines by 2020 as those large cars are not eco friendly, but they can't axe them straight away as Panamera has just been introduced and needs at least two life cycles to be economical. And Cayenne will be replaced by a smaller sized model ie Audi Q5. At the same time, there will be a new entry level sports car (and move Boxster/Cayman up market), which will be mass produced in order to make Porsche more profitable. If this is indeed the plan then I don't think it will dilute the brand at all. However, I certainly hope it won't turn out like Jaguar and Ford...

 

This issue is well discussed on this THREAD. The key reference is this Car Magazine article, with this telling quote:

"Speaking of the next 911 dubbed 991, rumour has it that messieurs Winterkorn and Piech were not totally convinced when they recently saw the production-ready design exercise for the first time.

The new chiefs demanded, among other things, substantial changes to the front and rear ends – a move which would delay the introduction by three to six months to model year 2012. Somewhat miffed and obviously demotivated, the Porsche design and engineering squad pointed out that the required alterations will invariably deliver a serious blow to the budget.

Quipped Piech, allegedly: 'This may be the case. But it's our money which is at stake, not yours.' "