Quote:
Originally Posted by CP911
I'm not convinced that Porsche is doing the right thing with their entry level sports car. Sure, they want to up-sell us to a more expensive model, but if they are driving people to a different brand, it doesn't seem to be working.
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Porsche chose to respond to the ever-tightening CAFE/CO2 rules by putting the F4T engines in the lowest volume, lowest margin models, the 718s. (Note Ferrari begrudgingly replaced the superb 458 Italia with the turbo 488.) You can see the Boxster/Cayman sales drop between 2016 (last of the 981s) and 2017 (start of the 718.)
The press noticed, too, Evo magazine moved the 718s to 4.5 stars, where the 981s were all 5 stars.
As a business case, because a lower displacement turbo will test better on the
treadmill and they had to make the average look better, some models had to be thrown under the 4 cylinder bus, so to speak, and from a money point of view, that's what happened.
The forthcoming 718 Spyder and GT4 are rumored to have NA 6es, and I expect those to be great cars that will sell like hotcakes.