Jox: Wiedeking ruined Porsche by trying to acquire VW.

 

One more thing, I think Porsche is becoming a bit less stubborn, because they said they would fix the Panamera's rear end to make it more appealing, so maybe they'll fix the 911 with the next gen model.

 

Young Boy you should revise your history! Before you were born Wendelin Wiedeking was doing all he could to save Porsche! And he successfully did it!!!So before you said he ruined Porsche, make sure you know what the real story is...

 

On page 35 of this thread I acknowledge that Wiedeking saved Porsche in 1993.

Who remembers Ferry Porsche saying "Porsche must remain small and independent"? Now Porsche is owned by VW. And I think VW is doing an okay job with Porsche, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Back ot, I can't wait for the GT3 RS LE. I wonder if it will have a KERS.

 

Bullshit. It disgusts me that we are becoming so mainstream. Yes, I know financial benefits, yes I know we can make absurd cars such as the GT2RS with it but it's not Porsche. Volkswagen is for the people, not Porsche.

 

jox

i repeat, i hope porsche people are reading this, iv done my part and forwarded many of these convos to my pcenter brand manger, not a single porsche customer i know is hapy with this, if they are pissing all their customers of i wonder who theyre trying to please, maybe car journalists

 

You obviously have no idea what he did, or why - and, by the sound of it, even what year. They pulled one of the most clever short squeezes on the stock market I have ever seen, and made nearly 40 billion Euros on it.

 

What? You guys either have amnesia or just don't know.

Let's see available models of the 964:

Carrera 2 + Tiptronic (First time in a Porsche)
Carrera 2 Cab + Tiptronic
Carrera 2 Targa + Tiptronic
Carrera 4 (first time in a Porsche) + Tiptronic
Carrera 4 Cab + Tiptronic
Carrera 4 Targa + Tiptronic
Speedster
Turbo (3.3)
Turbo S (3.3)
Turbo 3.6
Turbo S 3.6
Turbo S Flatnose
RS
RS Touring
RS 3.8
RS America
Carrera Cup USA Edition-street car

The 993 models:

Carrera + Tiptronic
Carrera 4 + Tiptronic
Carrera 2S + Tiptronic
Carrera 4S + Tiptronic
Carrera Cab + Tip
Carrera 4 Cab + Tip
Targa + Tip
Targa
RS
RS Clubsport
GT2
Turbo
Turbo Cab (14)
Turbo S
Speedster (2-Ferry Porsche, known as the and a silver one for Seinfeld)

The 996 variants are:

Carrera
Carrera Cab
Carrera 4
Carrera 4 Cab
Carrera S Cab
Carrera 4S Cab
Carrera 40 Jahre
Carrera Millenium Edition
Targa
Targa 4
Turbo
Turbo Cab
Turbo S
Turbo S Cab
MkI GT3
MkII GT3
GT3RS
GT2

Variants of the 911 do not dilute Porsche, IMHO, but the Cayenne, Cayenne S, Cayenne GTS, Cayenne Turbo and the Panamera and all it's variants do.

As for me, I hope Porsche looks at the 993 RS Clubsport as what to shoot for in this 4.0L RS LE.

I own a 997 RS and would definitely be willing to buy this RS LE if built for the ultra track oriented client, like me.

 

Admittedly I've only read the last two pages of this thread so everything in my $0.02 may have already been posted, but I still want to share in the fun.

As for the comment that Porsche is making the brand 'mainstream' with the gazillion different 911 iterations they have been releasing; a base 911 is still $77k, hardly affordable for the average schmoe. I don't see how a $250k GT2RS is supposed the to make the Porsche brand even more mainstream. If you're a purist worrying about brand dilution perhaps you should be more concerned about the diesel Cayenne or the supposedly imminent sub-Boxster VW based entry level roadster. Not to mention the possible BMW 1 rival...

I do agree though that the formula has become a bit stale, to which tiny customer base the 911 GTS is supposed to appeal or who in their right mind would voluntarily part with $200k for the privilege of owning a 'Sport Classic' is beyond me.

Now - not limited by my comparatively rather limited understanding of the Porsche brand - I would argue that the blokes at Porsche are the ultimate tinkerers and this unquenchable urge to improve (read: fettle with) their cars is what makes them so special and so good. BMW puts out a new M3 every 5 odd years and they might throw in some carbon bits during its product cycle but that's about it. Yet the 2011 997 is in many ways so different from the 2005 model that a lot manufacturers would happily call it an 'all new' model.

This 'need' to constantly fettle with a car, never being 100% satisfied with it for longer than 5 minutes, isn't that a true petrol head trait? There are tons of guys on here who have cars which even in their stock form are among the most capable and amazing money can buy, yet the urge to up the hp just a tiiiiiiiny bit or get those fancy centerlock wheels (saving unsprung weight, biotch) usually kicks in as soon as they've left the dealer lot. And we all know where it ultimately ends (well it never really does): with a Stage III EVOMS in the driveway while you're *just checking* out that sweet Stage IV pack on teh interwebz...

And let's suppose this new GT3RS best evarrr edition actually gets some new groundbreaking feature like KERS, how is that a bad thing? Because you can bet your ass that Porsche wouldn't put such a feature in the new regular 911 so then you'd have to wait 2 years for the 991 GT3 to be released with it as opposed to possibly early 2011 if they roll out a last hurray 997.

Now of course I'm not so naive that I don't realize the GT3RS LE has been as much a product of Porsche's marketing department as of the performance department, aimed at squeezing every last cent possible out of a soon to be replaced platform. And I understand this royally pisses off some Mk.II GT3RS owners. But since I still am of the opinion that the constant improvements of the 911 are a good thing I would propose the following: release all the upgrades and fancy trickery they're going to put in the GT3RS LE but why not do so in the form of an optional performance pack like the X51 pack they had for the 996?

 

No KERS on limited Ed RS, and you can take that to the bank ) tech not ready yet for commercial mass production )