Car Guys: Porsche Looks To The Future
The NY Times looks at the prospects for Porsche, which is in the process of being absorbed into the workman-like corporate world of VW. Everyone swears that VW will leave Porsche alone, and allow it to maintain its mystique (VW also owns Lamboghini and Bugatti). But, if this comment reflects conventional thinking at Leipzig, Porsche is in bigger trouble than they realize:
Still, Mr. Dudenhöffer and others say that Porsche needs to adapt to huge changes in the upper reaches of the car market, and that it does not have the resources to do so alone.
These days, status-conscious buyers want to pull up to the country club in a car that looks green as well as sexy. (Even Ferrari is building a hybrid.) And automakers in all price classes worry that the Facebook generation is more interested in mobile phones than in fast cars; analysts say the phenomenon has already hurt auto sales in Japan.
Does that make sense? People are buying smart phones instead of Porsches?? You're talking about people avoiding a $75,000 purchase so they can buy a $500 phone. What's next, blaming flagging Cayenne sales on MySpace and Facebook?
And the idea that there might be Porsche buyers out there who want to drive a car that looks "green as well as sexy?" Give me a break! The sort of person who wants to look "green" is also the sort of person grimaces at the sight of a Porsche at the "club."
In other words, if you think Porsche's problems involve social media and "green" consciousness, you are not going to be able to deal with Porsche's real problems.
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