Quote:
Originally Posted by AnalogMan
Bottom line, they probably could build a BRZ level car, but won't. There's less profit in that then selling fewer six-figure cars. And I also suspect they've long ago lost the knowledge of how to build a quality inexpensive car. The people who designed the 914 were very different than the engineers and accountants who work there today. So even if they decided they were willing to make less money on a cheaper car, I doubt they have the internal expertise to do that anymore.
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They can't do it because they are still bind with the 911. They tried to kill it back in the '70s and '80s with the transaxle models, but with no success. The reason of ending the 968 production (last transaxle-model) was for cost cutting reasons. Their model line-up had almost no technological similarities at that time. Completely different engines (inline four, flat-six, V8), different body styles and different drive trains, just to name a few. The solution was via the magic formula of creating the 986 (Boxster) and the 996 (water-cooled 911). Two different models with as many shared parts as possible and mass production. In fact the 996 became the most sold Porsche 911 of all time. Thanks to the shared parts with its smaller sibling, it finally became profitable as well. All these with an impact of losing the line-up of least expensive cars.