Weekly Porsche Wrap

Porsche’s current lineup in jeopardy thanks to VW – It’s all over the Internet (so it MUST be true…right?!) this past week that VW is talking about killing the Cayenne AND the Panamera after their product cycles are complete, roughly 7 years from now. There are also talks of some other significant lineup changes. Here are the sub-headlines I’ve gathered from various articles:

VW wants to kill off the Porsche Cayenne and Panamera – They’ve already got this lineup covered, so it makes some sense that they would encourage Porsche to cease future models in these 2 segments. What’s more interesting is that Piech (VW Chairman) is supposedly pushing for Porsche to return back to it’s sports car making “roots”. Seems like the Panamera could easily fit into that segment.

More talk of VW pushing for a mid-engine entry ENTRY level car to fit below the Boxster – This is one that’s floated around for a few months now. One article termed it a possible “spiritual successor” to the Porsche 356. That’s gonna piss off a lot of 356 aficionados when you tell them their precious 356’s are equivalent to LESS than a Boxster. Could be interesting though. Would still love to see a modern day 914 come out. I did get a little nervous when one writer mentioned something based on a VW Polo. Ouch!

Porsche reportedly will launch a supercar to follow in the footsteps of the Carrera GT – Again, another one that’s had some rumblings for a while now. Perhaps all of the rumors will make this dream come true. It’s been a few years since Porsche had a supercar, so I suppose they’re due. It also fits nicely with VW’s other high end brands (Lamborghini, Bugatti, Audi) that have cars in the supercar category.

VW may harvest the Porsche Panamera platform for one of it’s other premium brands – Even though VW wants to ax the Panamera, the platform may become the basis of some other premium offering for a brand like Bentley, Bugatti or Audi according to Edmunds. I suppose if it became a Bentley, that wouldn’t be all bad. Just as long as it’s not used for the Phaeton II.

All in all, some very interesting changes coming down the pipe for Porsche. Even if none of the above ends up surfacing, I’m sure we’ll see plenty of impact from VW’s ownership of Porsche. Wonder how the Porsche family is taking all this? [Via Edmunds.com, LeftLaneNews.com]

A nice Cayenne writeup for those of you so inclined to read about the Cayenne – A Canadian site, TheGlobeAndMail.com, wrote up a nice review of the Porsche Cayenne GTS. It was very favorable, so that will make you Cayenne owners and enthusiasts happy. This line sums up the review: “[The Cayenne] is only missing one thing – a Porsche badge on its butt.” [Via TheGlobeAndMail.com]

Porsche to offer paddle shifters across all models – Porsche recently announced that the new 2010 911 Turbo would be available with a two-paddle steering wheel. Also part of the announcement was that PDK outfitted models, eventually available across the lineup, will have an option for paddle shifters as opposed to the two-way buttons currently used. One step closer to feeling like a race car driver on the street! [Via MotorAuthority.com]

Porsche sales up 9% in August – I’ll leave you with this little spot of good news. Porsche sales were up compared to the same period last year. In August, they sold 1,646 units in North America. Here’s the breakdown:

• 911: 716 units (up 96%)
• Cayman: 196 units (up 51%)
• Boxster: 163 units (down 13%)
• Cayenne: 571 units (down 31%)

Hopefully the sales trend will continue, although 150,000 units worldwide is still a looooonnnnggg way off. [Via Online.WSJ.com]