Entry-Level Porsche Rumours won't go Away

what's wrong with Audi/BMW/Merc ?

nothing, but 15 years ago Porsche was competing with Ferrari and Lamborghini. a bit of a fall from grace, don't you think?

Comments sections continue to make me laugh, especially when those making comments expect that car companies will survive when they make low volume niche specialty vehicles - and when Porsche fans continue to cry that the brand is diluted and we should go back to the time when only the 911 and 944 were manufactured.....this is the exact reason why the company nearly went bust. As with every business case for every company, higher volumes and greater diversity mean greater sales hence development costs are reduced. Platform sharing, technology sharing, engine sharing etc means reduced development costs for many common components, e.g. airbags, ensures better products at lower prices, greater success and greater profitability. This also allows the niche products to be manufactured, e.g. GT2, GT3 etc. Wake up and you will understand why brands such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini etc are owned by large volume manufacturers that can contribute non-visible common technology and impart a level of safety and reliability. I would much rather be in a modern Audi developed Lambhorghini in a crash compared to a Diablo or Countach. Gone are the days of independent car manufacturers that develop the complete product from the ground - all will need to rely on a technology partner.

@sub39h , guess who won the GT2 class in ALMS , LMS and FIA GT2 this year , it was the 911 GT3 beating the F430 , i guess Porsche still competes with Ferrari and they are still good enough to beat them. the new 911 turbo is faster than the F458 and the new GT2 will be even faster than that. so as long as Porsche builds the 911 they will compete with Ferrari , but now they will compete with others as well.

Who would have thought? I agree with Scratchy996

Hey look at Merc. They have a $600,000CAD SLR and they produce the A-Class. Diversity happens to be the key I guess.

@Sirtristan, do you think Porsche is honestly a FOCUSED sports car brand? They are here to make money. Whatever sells. They would sell you a Porsche teddy bear in a racing suit (nothing wrong with it). It's very competitive and they need money to stay in business. how much money did they loss trying to devour VAG ? they need to make that up. @sub39h, yeah, porsche had nothing to compete with F and L 15 years ago, cos their 959 stopped in 1989. (sarcastic laugh).

i cant believe you mentioned a porsche in the same sentence as a mazda...

you act like this is something new. remember the 912, 914 , 924 , 944, 968 ? Porsche is not Ferrari , Ferrari sales are based only on exclusivity, Porsche is a larger scale manufacturer. if Porsche was building only cars costing more than 150k Euros, the story would be different , but they never were a company that built only ultra expensive cars. btw , Ferrari did go downmarket, they just badged those cars as Maserati.

or maybe fiat went up and badged their cars as ferraris

It would be awesome to have a lightweight, but i would be a bit skeptical about buying it if its just a specd up volkswagen bluesport..but on the other hand hopefully thy make it 100% porsche, nothing else.

@ ClintonM3 why not likely? It's all one big family now. Audi is making the R4 for sure, so Porsche just borrows the platform and tweets it to its own flavor, slap a P badge on it, and ppl will buy. look at the Cayenne.

if you are looking for bang per buck , search elsewhere, Porsche is not for you.

*But like scratchy said, Porsche shouldn't dilute itself by offering cars that are below a certain price range.

Xanavi... I'm a Porschphile also...and I also did not like the Cayenne...but trust me when you have kids and need to haul kiddy stuff around on weekends the Cayenne starts looking really nice.