Thursday, February 17, 2011

Porsche BlueSport back on


MArtin Winterkorn - Porsche's new boss - wants Porsche to build a BlueSport Roadster

Martin Winterkorn - Porsche's new boss - wants Porsche to build a BlueSport RoadsterThe changing fortunes at Porsche are bringing fresh thoughts on the future of Stuttgart. It’s not very long since Porsche stated that they would not build a BlueSport Porsche, but it looks like the new Porsche boss Martin Winterkorn has very different ideas. But as the boss of VW, that’s hardly surprising.

In an interview with Manager Magazin in Germany, Winterkorn has been letting loose a few thoughts on Porsche’s future, which includes doubling the current production to 150,000 cars a year. But, however successfull a Porsche BlueSport may be, its never going to account for 75,000 sales a year. So what else does Herr Winterkorn have up his sleeve?

Well, quite a few interesting possibilities, it would seem. Remember the talk of a mini Cayenne – the so called Porsche Roxster? Well, that’s very much on the cards and could be based off Audi’s A5 platform. Which does make a lot of financial sense. The Cayenne itself is based on the same platform as the Audi Q7, and has sold very well. And the cost-sharing of the platform is a great way to go.

But what else? Well, something we put up as a possibility a while ago – a new Panamera-based Porsche 928. The Porsche Panamera is crying out to be slimmed and pimped, and what better thing to do than make it a two-door coupe, just like Porsche’s last V8, front-engined Coupe – the 928?

Lots of interesting possibilities. No doubt the Porsche-philes will have apoplexy at the thought, but it’s the best way to get back the investment for VW.

Plus of course it does mean that the money will always be there to continue developing the 911 for the next 500 years.