Quote:
Originally Posted by pwd72s
I often get flamed for saying this...but the "soul" of Porsche is gone. The bean counters rule...
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I'm not sure I'd agree with this - but certainly the days of 100% Zuffenhausen engineered, slightly eccentric cars with huge personality seem to be numbered.
But you could say the same about Ferrari. Times change.
And maybe the end result is even a better vehicle.
But what is seriously beginning to pi_s me off about Porsche is the rapaciousness of their pricing policies. It leaves a bad taste somehow, and I can't help feeling a little bit duped on my last purchase.
That, and I recently read a small book by Wendelin Wiedeking entitled "The David Principle" (as in David and Goliath). It was written in 2001 in German, but in this he goes on at some length about the beauty of being a small niche player, unbeholden to large conglomerates and the various stresses and compromises they entail etc. He stated emphatically then that Porsche would always remain independant of the large "commoditized" carmakers etc, and their small size would always enable them to remain nimble, creative and passionate about their cars etc etc. Yada yada yada.
Well what an unholy crock of bull crap that has turned out to be. But as I said, things change. He's pulling down upwards of 100 million a year now, and Porsche shareholders are rolling in money.
As Dylan says, "I used to care, but things have changed". A bit like you and I are thinking about Porsche these days.