[Kaj Hallstrom]

The 968's are finally getting some attention these days. My "Amethyst Dazzler" Cabriolet made it to issue #240 in the EXCELLENCE magazine and the "Blue Beauty" Coupé made it's appearance in the PANORAMA # 714 issue. Nice to see that some people recognized the fact that the trans-axle cars (924/944/928/968) actually saved the Porsche Company from bankruptcy back in the early nineties.........or do they really know this fact?........If you ask most 911 owners they would have no clue.

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[tom968]

Saw the Oct. Excellence.  Kaj the photo with your 968 overlooking 

the Pacific looks fantastic. 

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[Rap]

Kay your car did look actually fantastic! About time we got some attention.

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[az968]

His car even looks better in person!

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[lbpesq]

"Nice to see that some people recognized the fact that the trans-axle cars (924/944/928/968) actually saved the Porsche Company from bankruptcy back in the early nineties.........or do they really know this fact?........If you ask most 911 owners they would have no clue."


I thought it was the opposite. I thought the 928/968 almost bankrupted Porsche and the Boxster bailed them out?


Bill

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[MCL968]

Bill, that was the impression I had as well. I heard that the 968 was a financial disaster, and the Boxster kept the company afloat long enough for the Cayenne to raise revenues and insure Porsche's survival.

 

Still, Kaj's car is a wonderful example, and his taste in wine is every bit as good.

 

M-

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[Kaj Hallstrom]

It was the whole line of trans-axle cars that saved the company. Not the 911 or the 968. Then the Boxter took over to turn the company "black" again. The Porsche Company was almost bankrupt when they "thought" the 968/928 concept could save them. Up until then the 944 and the 928 (that car was suppose to replace the 911) had paid the bills......The rest is history.

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[flash]

i hear stuff like this all the time, but often it's just more urban myth than truth.  i have some of the company internal literature and memos and stuff here from the 968 era, and it makes for some really interesting reading.

 

i don't want to start an argument, but for better or worse, nothing was ever supposed to "replace" the 911.  porsche has always said that it will keep the 911, and that only the particulars of the car would change.  they have repeatedly floated rumours out there, like "the end of the flat 6", but it was more for sales hype in a slumping market, than reality.  20 years ago they said "we've gotten all we can out of it" in reference to the flat 6, and now they make more than 100hp more.

 

the 944 is what rescued the company from that particular bankruptcy.  the 968 was a "patch" car, made up of mostly carryover parts, to carry them over to what they thought would be the next front engine car, without having to spend anything on R&D, just as the 993 was to carry them over to the liquid cooled design.  

 

something to remember is that the front engine cars were always intended to target primarily the US market, where we were stuck with the idea that cars should have the engine in front, and the drive in the rear.  

 

the 928 was the "prototype" of that new US market front engine car.  the next front engine car was supposed to be a lot like the 911 in shape (i posted a pic here somewhere), but a V8.  it originally looked a lot like the 996. it got bogged down though in company shuffling with VW.  when they finally introduced the panamera, it was supposed to also have a 2 door model (i actually spoke with the VP about that), but ultimately they felt that it would compete with the 911 too much, particularly concerned about other markets, so they cancelled that version, at least for now.

 

with the success of the SUV market, and the fact that other cars are now getting a lot more power, we may yet see a front engine 2 door GT again from porsche.  it may spawn a downsized version too, based on the same tub, just like they did with the boxster, which was based on the 996 tub.

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[ds968]

Everything Flash stated is fairly correct , except for the 968 description being a temporary carryover car ; one of my soccer teammates who was a principal Porsche executive at the time of the 968 development ( the bastard subsequently defected to BMW who recruited him, before he retired a few years later ) categorically stated that the 968 was designed to be the ultimate Porsche and the only planned long term alternative to the 911. Although while not intended to replace the 911 , Porsche had such high hopes for the car that it deliberately priced it at a significantly higher level that was really needed to elevate its status in the eyes of the public, and they were really confident the line would be produced for decades to follow, parallel to the 911 models . The 924 and the 944 were both test cases for the 968 . The 928 was an entirely different animal targeted to a " mature " demographic , and Porsche intended to stick with that model as well ...which I suppose after a very long break , eventually became the Panamera , LOL .. So whatever myths anyone heard or read, at least according to a former Porsche official , that's the 968's true story ..

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[flash]

lol - i think he was trying to make you feel good.  remind me to show you the "Business Address and 968 Launch Presentation) that was handed out at the company release event.  it paints a different picture.  it really talks about how the 968 is just the next evolution of the 944, and that they "didn't start with a white paper".  i find it incredibly hard to believe that they would call the 968 "the ultimate porsche", given that it was really only a 944, and was almost dubbed 944S3.  if they had started with a different chassis, and maybe a car with unequal length A-arms, i might buy that, but not the 968 "frankenporsche"

 

that being said, they were very focused on marketing the car, and changed a lot of how they were marketing and to whom.  they changed their 60/40 split of men/women to 50/50.  they were inserting into an unusually high number of advertising markets.  they even cut production of the 944 way down, so as to sell out that stock, and make room for the 968.  the 92 928 was even cancelled.

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[ds968]

I don't think it's in the Germans nature to say anything that's sugar coated just because it makes someone else feel good, lol ...his own car was a 968 ( and he could really have had any other Porsche as a company car .. ).

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[flash]

lol - then maybe he was trying to make himself feel good.

 

let's use logic here.  this was just another development of the same platform they had been using for 20 years.  i have that in writing in the marketing stuff.  nothing much really changed, regardless of the advertising claims of being 83% new (i still want to know how they got that number, when there are an awful lot of crossover parts).  yes, they added bigger motors, more gears, and more creature comforts, but really the same car.  i have a real hard time imagining that they would try to focus attention on that, and try to sell the idea that it was the "ultimate porsche", especially since most hard core porschephiles did not consider it a true porsche.

 

now, most of us would already consider it the ultimate porsche (i know i did, until they came out with the targa - lol).  but, we are a very small group.  after all, keep in mind that after 2 years of the model, they slashed prices, carried over unsold cars to the next year, and started deleting parts.

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[968Syncro]

One thing that suggests the 968 was not a serious and enduring model for Porsche is the lack of special versions.  The 356 had the Carrera (in addition to other up-models), the 911 had the Turbo (and numerous others), the 914 had the 914-6, the 928 the GTS, the Boxster the S model, etc.   Sure the 968 has the Club Sport, but that was a down-model not a high-end specialty car that lifted the entire 968 brand.

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[Rap]

All of this is interesting from a historical point of view. How many of us bought this car with all that info in mind? I suspect that many of us bought a 968 for a variety of reasons but lets not lose sight of why we got the car. We purchased the car to have a Porsche that we could drive and enjoy. The fact that the 968 has and unfortunately will remain a bastard step child might be thought of as a badge of honor. Yea a bit of a stretch but then you might have to focus on the fact that only 12000 were manufactured and only 4600 or so came into the country. It's rareness doesn't seem so far to have achieved what it might normally in terms of price appreciation.

Enjoy your car!

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[Langley968]

 

How many of us bought this car with all that info in mind? I suspect that many of us bought a 968 for a variety of reasons but lets not lose sight of why we got the car. We purchased the car to have a Porsche that we could drive and enjoy.

 

Enjoy your car!

 

My thoughts also!  

I pulled the 968 of the garage yesterday and let my 19 year old daughter get behind the wheel. The look on her face as she shifted through the gears was priceless, which makes it the most valuable car in the world to me! We drove around for over an hour, just looking for roads that could enhance the "fun" factor.

(FYI - her car is a VW Rabbit 5-speed) 

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[flash]

lol - what swung me over was actually the fact that it was the red-headed step child.  i loved that.  

 

interestingly, i have a bit of that now with the targa.  "true" 911 guys think it is overweight.  "true" convertible guys scoff at it too.  i love that.  it's the best car i've ever owned, a pure pleasure to drive, and there is very little that i would change.  that says a lot, considering what i have done to every car i have ever had.

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[jimham968]

Ok. Back to the subject of this thread. 911 & Prosche World magazine covers the 968 well in this month's October issue. They cover one 968 Club Sport in the "Projects" section, have an artcle on the whole 924/944/968 lineup, have a 968 buyer's guide article, and have a great article on the yellow 968 Turbo RS. They even have an article on the restoration of a 924 to turbo Le Mans racer. All in all a great issue.

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[Ryan]

The fact that Porsche started to make money after they studied Toyota manufacturing processes and cut the time it took to build a car almost in half should not be overlooked. Just in time for the Boxter.

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[Langley968]

Ok. Back to the subject of this thread. 911 & Prosche World magazine covers the 968 well in this month's October issue. They cover one 968 Club Sport in the "Projects" section, have an artcle on the whole 924/944/968 lineup, have a 968 buyer's guide article, and have a great article on the yellow 968 Turbo RS. They even have an article on the restoration of a 924 to turbo Le Mans racer. All in all a great issue.

 

Off to check the local bookstore for that issue...

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[94SilverCab]

Maybe they just got tired of writing about boring old 911s  :glare:

 

Jay

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