T I D B I T S    F E A T U R E

Image.  For car companies, this has become an all important thing, a guiding principle if you will, in everything that they do—from their motorsports program to their commitment for the environment.  Some have worked so hard to preserve a certain sense of brand image and no one has done it better than Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. 

Over the decades, the company has successfully transformed their cars into desirable collector’s items admired by enthusiasts and normal folks alike.  For instance, the 911, for all the iterations it has gone through, still has a familiar silhouette that is distinctively its own.  Although considered as today’s most profitable car maker, things have not always been sweet at Stuttgart.   

In the eighties, Porsche has tried to reinvent itself with a couple of coupes such as the 944 with a front-mounted V8 engine and swing-up headlights.  Wanting to expand their empire further, they wanted to add a four-door sedan, something that rabid Porsche fans continuously and openly rejected.  In the end, Porsche had to give up their expansive line-up program because of a sluggish US economy.  This decision, almost led close to corporate bankruptcy. 

This era of Miami Vice and Mr. T, may have brought bitter disappointment for Porsche, but it also brought its brightest moment: the 959.  The four-wheel drive 959 is the epitome of style and performance, a perfect blend of what the Porsche brand stands for.  This limited production model had all the right ingredients: a twin-turbo rear-mounted flat-6 engine that developed 450 bhp, permanent four-wheel drive, plus a body and chassis based on the 911.  Everyone wanted one so badly that the fetching price reached a cool USD 1,000,000. 

The 959 won in prestigious rally events, capping off with a win at the challenging Paris to Dakar rally.  A success in tarmac and sand, the 959 was directly responsible for making people perceive four-wheel drive Porsches in a different way.  The 959 spawned a series of highly desirable, fiendishly fast and perfectly stable super cars such as the 911 Carrera 4 and the 911 Turbo.

Fast-forward to the new millennium, a time where Porsches still sell in record numbers thanks to a solid line-up of the Boxster and the 911.  To secure the company’s continued independence as a car manufacturer and to fund future projects such as the Carrera GT, Porsche thought the unthinkable: an SUV.  True enough, this is the first non-sports car that the company would be producing under its name (it did assemble the powerful Mercedes-Benz 500E before).  With a seating capacity equaling three Boxsters, the Cayenne is expected to sell in huge numbers (around 25,000), a majority of which will be shipped to the United States. 

Upon the release of the first development photographs, the black flag was raised again by Porsche enthusiasts.  Typically males, whose topic of conversation range from ‘water-cooled versus air-cooled’ and ‘four-wheel drive versus rear-wheel drive’, they are barking mad with the idea of seeing suburban soccer moms in a USD 50,000 SUV wearing the same badge as their beloved supercar.

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