Quote:
Originally Posted by equality72521
You just answered the question. As a business why would they cater to the minority? If your goal is to sell as many cars as possible and only 10% want a manual transmission then the obvious thing to do is make auto transmissions.
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I think the issue is that once you move away from your "core" values to chase fickle soccer moms it may come back to bite you in the ass.
Once porsche just becomes another luxury car manufacturer they will enter a snake pit of competition; how long can they hold off the japanese who can make it faster/cheaper/more gadgets/more luxury? How long did it take lexus to compete/beat mercedes and BMW?
Look at the American auto manufacturers; sure people wanted SUV's in the 90's and beyond, so they took out their white flag and waved it at the europeans and japanese and basically said "we give up, we can't be bothered trying to make high quality small cars anymore, you can own this segment of the market".
They poured everything into big SUV's and when market conditions changed rapidly (and they will again, watch gas price inflation when the recession is over...it will reach for the stars) they were screwed.
History is repeating itself again, look at the deal Chrystler is trying to secure right now; Fiat smells blood and is foaming at the mouth to access their dealer network to sell small cars.
Chrystler is so desperate they will sign anything to keep in business, but I'll wager they will live to regret this deal. Fiat will clean up with their cute economical inexpensive small cars and it will become more and more obvious with time that Chrystler is outdated; they will be absorbed and broken up with time.