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On Porsche.

Interesting that you focused on Porsche this week. Yesterday at a busy intersection I was behind relatively new red 911 Turbo S (maybe a 250k car). Of course, I envied every sensuous yet purposeful body surface but looking around I noticed no one else seemed to care... seemingly a big yawn to the collective lifted truck, SUV and Kia-Hyundai crowd.

My thoughts:

- As you have highlighted the Porsche brand has lost performance relevance and is now known for SUVs.

- The era of precision high-performance cars is over...

- EVs have changed the game.

- Seen it, done that, maybe I'll look if it was a McLaren or Ferrari.

- Cars projected social value and accomplishment, now we’re moving closer to car strictly as conveyance.

- People don't give a damn! Glad you could afford the car and insurance, but I couldn’t care less.

Perhaps a mixture of all of the above but certainly, "The times they are a changing".

TB
Gainesville, Florida



New headline?

After reading your rant, I suggest a new opening line:
Porsche CEO Michael Leiters wants everyone, meaning its U.S. dealers and their customers, to purchase 2027 Chevy Corvettes, where models matching the Porsche price/performance lineup are at about half the sticker price.

ChuckB
Rockville, Maryland



Good question.

Funny that Porsche touted itself as the “most profitable automotive company in the world,” as I remember Chrysler Corp being touted as the most profitable car company in the world back in the late nineties. Supposedly this is why MB bought them, to learn how, but then instead bled Chrysler dry and sold the husk to Cerberus. Is VW bleeding Porsche dry to buy financial time for itself?

DG
Berwick, Maine



The Way Back Machine.

Once again, PMD has me turning on the way back machine.

Thanks for mentioning the USAC race at Trenton Speedway. It is one of those "forgotten" tracks, like Bridgehampton. I went there with my dad in 1971 (it was a birthday gift) to see the NASCAR Grand National race. Richard Petty won and rounding out the top five were Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Pete Hamilton, and Dave Marcus. The track had a very unusual layout and was nicknamed the "kidney bean" and it was closed in the late 1980s after the long-time owner passed away.

Sidenote: looks like Dave Marcus is still alive. One of those NASCAR drivers who never had one of the better cars to compete. In 1971 at the Talladega 500, Bobby Isaac had kidney stones so they gave the No. 71 K&K Dodge Charger to Dave. He was part of a four-car draft that was at the front for much of the race until he suffered a blown engine.

Dave Goldin
Rochester, Michigan



On Mini.

I suspect sadly, that you're right about Mini. The latest Mini Countryman is hard to distinguish from any other car on the road, and the interior, where they clearly focused most of their attention, has some nice details which still capture some of the Mini charm, but the switches look the same as any other vehicle out there. Plus, they are really expensive now. It is clear that they realized they needed to fix a few things quickly with the electric Countryman (the range for starters, which was atrocious for a $50K car), but it's not fast enough. The fact BMW has now delayed switching the electric Countryman to the Neue Klasse platform from 2028 to 2032, suggests it's cutting back a bit on investing in Mini and focusing more on the main brand (which also makes sense from the volatile market perspective but still doesn't help Mini).

The other aspect I keep wondering about in the US market is why BMW undercapitalizes the relationship between Mini and BMW. For example, at my dealership the two closest brands next to Mini are Mazda and Acura. Both of which would probably be on the shopping list of anyone who wanted to switch from Mini. Missing is BMW, the obvious upgrade choice. If the original plan was to capture young drivers and move them across to BMW when they had bigger pockets, then it's not working.

Finally, Mini was supposed to be an innovative high-tech design to provide as much space as possible in a small package, at an affordable price. Clearly, they have lost sight of that goal, which is why I'll be holding onto my 2018 Countryman for a long while.

Paul G.
Silver Spring, Maryland



Porsche.

As usual, your timing is impeccable. Reuters publishes an independent confirmation of your conclusion that "At Porsche, demand is declining rapidly – especially in China – and sharply increased costs are forcing CEO Michael Leiters to take drastic steps to restore profitability."

See the "giant, steaming bowl of Not Good"TM here: Porsche's decline from crown jewel to millstone for parent Volkswagen.

Thanks, as always, for the entertaining insights.

Mike Y
Houghton, Michigan



Voodoo Engineering.

“...It goes all the way up to the Cayenne Turbo Electric..." I'm sorry, but I would STILL just love to know how engineers -- be they from Porsche, or otherwise -- managed to turbocharge an electric-powered vehicle. Is it a secret patented process...? Or a prime example of "voodoo engineering"...?

Eddy S.
Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA



Tulip trickery.

I did a great weekend at Birmingham at the Porsche Experience, which taught me a few racetrack tricks, and I enjoyed beating up the entire Porsche line on a track.

Most owners are buying an automotive Rolex-based on what I saw at the track, it's a lifestyle buy, they aren't drivers or racers. The 911's special trick is that it can hang on a track and still be streetable. Beyond that, it is massively overpriced. Is the entire buying cohort Boomers who are buying a last car with stock market gains who might otherwise be bidding up a 1968 GTO at Mecum?

There is a great thread on the Rennsport forum where a member traced these cars by VIN and discovered that while the dealers can't mark up too much, they can sell them to shills who run the car through Bring a Trailer and others, bump up the prices, then sell the same car "used" for the telephone number they want.

My only legit complaint is that this tulip trickery pulls up the prices of the beater Boxster I'd otherwise be interest in.

Casey Raskob, Esq
Green Leafy Burbs, New York