Irony alert.

Found this article in the PAC newsletter yesterday. Apparently, VW is planning to share the Panamera and 911 platforms with other brands in the VW family. Technically, I guess, that would make the 996 the last 'real' Porsche, wouldn't it? http://tinyurl.com/yjmusxx

Porsche we we knew it will cease to exist. I'm sure they will continue to make great cars but it wont be the same.

Did you read the article? They stated that they would share technology already being used as to not have to re-invent the wheel. It's not that the 911 or Panamera will become VW's but rather technology will funnel over to make VW a better car and vice versa as well as save costs. Porsche will still be distinctively Porsche and VW will still be distinctively VW....or as they pointed out, Exclusive. You're not going to see a stretched out bettle with a motor in the back from the line in Sttugart.

Aren't they still using what is, effectively, the 996 platform? Why not share the platform? Since the vague 911esque appearance of modern Porsches is basically styling, no reason they can't use the underlying platform for another car. Maybe they can style it to look like another iconic sports car--how about a Miura?

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No, but you will see an Audi TT on 911 chassis, which in IMHO really waters down the Porsche uniqueness.

Remember, Ferdinand Piech is the guy who developed the 917. He can be a bit nutty on business decisions, but he is a true car guy. I may be in the minority, but I actually think Porsche is in good hands.

I don't think Lamborghini has been diluted by VW's ownership. Sure the Audi now uses the engine and there are some shared interior parts between the brands but there's no denying a Lambo is still a Lambo. I'm hopeful that Porsche will still be a unique brand.

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Yes, Dell, I read the article. First off, I posted this for general amusement. There is a long history of corporate takeovers like this that don't go that well and create nostalgia as an unintended consequence. Some will remember Harley Davidson's AMF years, as an example. I thought it was funny to imagine that the mantle of 'last of the true breed' could get passed to the 996, heretofore the Rodney Dangerfield of Porsches. Secondly, speaking from the platform of my own professional credentials as a branding guy, let me assure you of one thing: How 'good' the products are won't have very much to do with how people feel about them. I watch this with interest not in what happens to the cars, which I'm sure will be as good or better, but in what happens to the brand. This sort of thing is often not a rational phenomenon, and therefore rarely has a rational outcome.

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I drove a friend Gallardo and the interior felt VERY Audi to me! An improvement for sure but it still dilutes the cars identity a little. I had no issue with it but than I am not quite as passionate about Lambo's as I am Porsche. As am I.

The last true Porsche had 4 cylinders and was called a 356. But I digress.

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The last true Porsche was the 89 Carrera (Not the C4)

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I'd love to see them build a miura again, and this time it will run I believe Lambo + bugatti were well served, however I think VW's handling of Bentley is likely the case to examine. Like Porsche, Bentley had a few iconic, anachronistic variants of single basic design that inspired extreme brand loyalty and repeat business from a small number of exceptionally well heeled customers, and like Porsche, a particular engine with peculiar characteristics along with very recognizable, traditional styling were key drivers of this loyalty. The very first thing VW did was extend the brand downward with the GT, a car which in most ways did not appeal in the least to their traditional clientele, had nothing in common with other Bentleys aside from the hood badge and grille, but was wildly popular with a different set of people which dramatically increased production volume and extended the brand downward to compete with conventional, albeit top of the line cars from Mercedes-Benz in particular. The key? The customer at $150K is very different from the customer at $450K. They are in many ways more demanding. They are much, much younger. They are going to drive the car themselves. They want to know exactly how much power the motor makes (sufficient and more than sufficient were not sufficiently detailed answers!) They are even coming into dealerships asking about Ipods and xenons and chip tuning and wheels and leasing. The GT was a technologically superlative vehicle when compared with anything Bentley had ever done, was very fashionable, and very hard to get ahold of. It was developed on and adapted from existing or evolving platforms and technologies that only a company of VW's size could develop. And perhaps most importantly it made torque, insane amounts of torque, a Bentley hallmark and the reason why BMW never succeeded in replacing Bentleys old OHV V8s with their anemic V12s in the previous cycle. The GT spawned multiple variants, convertible and sedan, and these new lower priced Bentleys moved in quantities previously considered impossible for an old manufacturer with a stale racing heritage which had faced financial trouble for the better part of 80 years! After successfully rejuvenating the Bentley brand with the GT and it's variants and pulling in a huge new customer base, VW finally felt confident enough to tackle re-designing Bentley's current bread and butter, the Arnage and the Azure, and most people who've driven both have no problems with the new cars, although a few traditionalists still hold on to their old cars. Progress is not for everyone, but with a huge new customer base to sell up to, progress does not have to be for everyone. A lot of the rumbling we're hearing about Porsche is similar. An R4 has ben in the works for a long time. This will likely spawn an even lower end Porsche slotted around where the Boxster is. Why? Because apparently the boxster costs nearly as much to manufacture as the 911. There's no margin at its current pricepoint. So it's natural to believe reports that the flat 6 models will all move up in price, and if they're right a new 250 bhp turbo flat 4 will be placed in an R4 variant at or near the boxster's current pricepoint. Oh no, another 4 cyl Porsche co-designed by VW? We've seen this movi before, a couple of times. While many dislike the 914, let's not forget the 356 borrowed heavily from VW in many ways even if they weren't directly from the parts bin. Either way, 911 owners are not the target market. Porsche knows that we're hooked, and will keep buying 911s, which is why they keep raising prices, we basically pay them a premium for keeping the car basically unchanged. News of a high margin entry level car, a new entry level SUV, a new sedan or coupe, all this is excellent news for 911 lovers, because it means they will be able to afford to keep making the 911! Eventually they'll be feeling their oats though, decide its time to modernize the 911, and we'll all be driving some sort of R8 or unknown R6 variant, but that's far into the future and not worth speculating upon. I think we've got 10 years of flat 6 rear(-ish) engine 911s in front of us, but be prepared to see a lot more Porsche badged cars on the road!

^^^^ Thanks htny for that excellent and well stated perspective.

Well, its the 928, that is coming back: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/au...62d8a9e6f5f064

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Interesting...although the rear view is such an Aston Martin rip off that I think this is not a Porsche design but instead a bit of hype from the (british) auto express magazine.

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clearly automotive designers have run out of ideas..

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Nice! I like the prototype 928!

httny - very good post

the king is dead, long live th---, well the king is dead, their should be a national holiday for the death of Porsche. it truly is a dark time we live in now- : (

they will get my 996 when they pry it from my cold dead hands!