Porsche CEO: Small Sports Car Would Hurt Brand
For several years now the rumor mill has had Porsche in talks with parent company VW to introduce a new small sports car platform that would give Porsche a model below the Boxster (which these days starts at $50K). And once again the word from on high is that the project has been cancelled.
CEO Matthias Mueller said this week, “We would do no good to the brand if we were to lose traditional Porsche customers… Possibly we need to wait until the next generation of customers before the idea of a small roadster will work for Porsche.”
Because, you know, historically Porsche buyers have disliked small sports cars.
How ironic then that worry about the loss of ‘traditional Porsche customers’ didn’t impede the rollout of the Panamera sedan, Cayenne sport-ute and the upcoming Macan crossover.
Today 75% of Porsche buyers are buying sedans and SUV’s. A decade ago (‘traditional Porsche customers’ - right?) that number was 0. In any case, it seems that tarted-up Volkswagens must be the new Porsche ‘tradition.’
May 14, 2012, 12:45pm Permalink
