Cayenne Red Hot

[Chuck Moreland]

Here is a machine generated English translation of a German website article about Cayenne. The language is choppy because it is literal word-for-word, but most of the content can be deciphered.

http://www.worldlingo.com/wl/translate?wl_lp=DE-en&wl_glossary=gl1&wl_documenttype=dt1&wl_fl=2&wl_rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fauto%2Faktue ll%2F0%2C1518%2C225647%2C00.html&wl_url=http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,1518,225647,00.html&wl_g_table=-3

Seems the Cayenne initial sales are happening. The first year production of 25k units is already sold. Porsche is talking about increasing the production quantities going forward.

Keeping this on topic (sort of) is it new product euphoria, or will this thing really fund some serious sports car development? Next generation 911, factory sponsored racing?

[Wayne 962]

I find it hard to believe that all 25,000 have been sold. They are probably estimating that all 25,000 will be sold...

-Wayne

[Lucky]

I've been very negative about the Cayenne since I first heard of the concept -- partially because I was concerned it wouldn't sell, but mostly due to the damage it may do to Porsche's future product plans. I can see the marketing mavens keeping the engineers busy chasing each new vehicle fad instead of designing new 911s and racing them!

To give it a chance I signed up with Porsche as interested in the beast, so they've been sending me mucho propoganda. The latest arrival is a meaty booklet, financing info, and a 40 minute video tape with a series of "shorts" about the beast.

My kids (5 year old boy, 8 year old girl) and I watched the video tape last night... with surprising results. My daughter wants to sell everthing (including my 911!) and buy one. My son says "we'll never sell 'little black'" (that's the name we've adopted for the 911). Me, as much as I hate to admit, I'm intrigued by the Cayenne. If I were in the market for a luxo cruiser (s-class Mercedes or similar), the Cayenne would be near or at the top of the list of desireable alternatives. The turbo is an absolutely stunning machine, and something of a deal given the technology packed into it -- it really does achieve a number of meaningful firsts.

As I've said before, I think Porsche will sell all it can make (at least for a couple of years)... we all know, however, the most owners of older Porsches will have no interest in the new beast.

I still have one serious concern: will commercial success of the Cayenne alter Porsche's focus on sports cars (and sports car racing) in the future as much as it has the last 2 to 3 years?