Quote:
Originally Posted by Re_Invention
Bingo regarding the 370z taking the entry sports coupe position. Porsche has recently gone on record saying (which can change tomorrow) they won't consider anything below the Boxster, $60k+ OTD, at the moment. And that makes sense given the size of production, consumer demands and profit margins. They are so immensely profitable because they get away with charging so much for their products. It isn't that their plastic or metal is 100% more expensive than Toyota's. Why sacrifice margin at current production volume for a gamble risk to recapture end of year profits with greater volume and investment of infrastructure. Suggesting that is living with blinders on because they will reserve that for Macan lifestyle vehicles! hahah!
No one needs to appeal to a market that isn't profitable, a few griping enthusiasts on forums (which frankly always turn out to be a marginal group of buyers anyway) across the world aren't the average consumer. They [we] are the 1%!
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I don't want to take away from Porsche too much because they're fantastic. I'd consider myself one of the people who scoffed at the German vehicle price premium until I drove and eventually bought one. They really are a whole different animal entirely in terms of comfort, road noise, ergonomics, etc. You can tell they paid attention to even the little things like how the door sounds when it shuts.
All of that said, the S2000 was a far better car than the original Boxsters in pretty much every way except for what I listed above. The problem is it is lacking a fancy badge with a wow factor and a pedigree. Most of those buying them don't care that the car has by far the best gearbox of anything under 50 grand, fantastic handling dynamics, or a 9000 RPM redline. They don't know jack about cars for that matter. They just want something that has the name brand and the comfort to match, and their biggest concern is carrying a golf bag, and they are well off enough that they don't mind padding Porsche's pockets to get it. You're not going to see your average white collar consumer pulling up to the country club in something like an S2000 so they can tell all their friends how much they saved to get a much more uncomfortable, borderline race car for the streets with a big sport bike tach and a Honda badge, but that it was worth it because the car is better where it counts. It just isn't happening.
So the options are either find a way to break into the premium market and reap the benefit of those markups or make the car cheaper. The S2000 failed because the premium market wanted Porsche/BMW and it wasn't so much faster and better than the Miata to justify the price increase.