No Baby Boxster No Surprises No Loss

[daro911]

The future of VW's mid-engined Blue Sport two-seater hangs in the balance because the company can't find enough sales to justify investing in the model. A key stumbling block is the US market, where the model isn't considered a priority despite a plan to nearly treble sales to 800k units by 2018.

"˜To get to 800k units, we don't need to keep adding to our portfolio of models. We're concentrating on our core models,' says VW of America boss Jonathan Browning.

The US is the world's biggest market for sportscars, so giving the Blue Sport a low priority means VW can't get close to the 50,000 or so annual global production it needs for the production go-ahead.

According to VW's engineering boss, Uli Hackenberg, the engineering for the Blue Sport is all completed. The significant next step is the business case.
"˜There is no official release for the project. It's not a technology problem, but of finding enough customers. I don't have enough [sales] volume to get the go-ahead,' says Hackenberg.

Continuing delays will pose a significant threat to the Blue Sport ever making production. The design was revealed at Detroit three years ago and the styling will rapidly date, making it even less likely the Blue Sport will get the green light.

With the Blue Sport in a holding pattern, sister models from Audi and Porsche are also affected. Audi has decided it wants a compact mid-engined two-seater in its range to compliment the R8, but Porsche is less enthusiastic.

Porsche insiders have talked about the car as a possible successor to the iconic, four-cylinder powered 550 of the 1950s, but there are concerns inside Porsche that an entry-level sportscar will rob sales from the Boxster.

 

[Nick_USA]

ORIGINAL: daro911

The future of VW's mid-engined Blue Sport two-seater hangs in the balance because the company can't find enough sales to justify investing in the model. A key stumbling block is the US market, where the model isn't considered a priority despite a plan to nearly treble sales to 800k units by 2018.

"˜To get to 800k units, we don't need to keep adding to our portfolio of models. We're concentrating on our core models,' says VW of America boss Jonathan Browning.

The US is the world's biggest market for sportscars, so giving the Blue Sport a low priority means VW can't get close to the 50,000 or so annual global production it needs for the production go-ahead.

According to VW's engineering boss, Uli Hackenberg, the engineering for the Blue Sport is all completed. The significant next step is the business case.
"˜There is no official release for the project. It's not a technology problem, but of finding enough customers. I don't have enough [sales] volume to get the go-ahead,' says Hackenberg.

Continuing delays will pose a significant threat to the Blue Sport ever making production. The design was revealed at Detroit three years ago and the styling will rapidly date, making it even less likely the Blue Sport will get the green light.

With the Blue Sport in a holding pattern, sister models from Audi and Porsche are also affected. Audi has decided it wants a compact mid-engined two-seater in its range to compliment the R8, but Porsche is less enthusiastic.

Porsche insiders have talked about the car as a possible successor to the iconic, four-cylinder powered 550 of the 1950s, but there are concerns inside Porsche that an entry-level sportscar will rob sales from the Boxster.

Let's face it the American's don't like 'Compact' cars let alone 'Sub-Compact' sports cars.

 

[jdpef356]

Could be looked on as good news for current 986/987 owners. Residuals wont fall as quickly as thye would if they did bring the new one out[&:]

 

[Nick_USA]

ORIGINAL: jdpef356



Could be looked on as good news for current 986/987 owners. Residuals wont fall as quickly as thye would if they did bring the new one out[&:]

The new Boxster is still on it's way this is the smaller one.

 

[CLIFFWILKINS]

Hi All
The new Boxster is definately going ahead and the launch is due in April. This is not the baby Boxster and is the next model to the 987 Gen 2.
As soon as i have any more info i will let you know.

Nick did you get my email re tech write up?

Cheers
Tracy
Boxster RS

 

[daro911]

Guys & Gals this post is referring to the BABY Box not the 981 which can be seen here http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=667322 []

 

[Buddy]

I for one think that if there is to be no 550 then it will be a loss, the 991 is now wider by 100mm, Boxster and Cayman set to be similar girth and the current Cayman and Boxster are about as wide as is comfortable to cope with in traffic and on narrow lanes.

 

[flat6]

I'm not sure if it's a loss or not. If it was to sell in huge numbers for Porsche to help build the company so as to be able to invest in future Boxster, Cayman and 911 developments then good. However I can't see me buying a lower powered (i'm not a power junkie) slower (i'm not a speed freak) car from a premium brand, that when I tried to overtake anything else on the road I couldn't (I don't overtake for the fun of it but I do like to have enough power to be able to make manouvres quick, easy and fun). Sports cars that don't have decent performance don't appeal to me. I appreciate that a lot of driving enjoyment is to do with handlingwhich is why I drive a Cayman. However, I wouldn't buy a 'baby' Cayman or Boxster that didn't have enough 'oomph' and pay a premium price for it..

 

[CLIFFWILKINS]

Boxster or Cayman for the handling GT3 for power [8D]

 

[daro911]

Porsche is poised to kill off its plans to launch an entry-level roadster within the next two years. Company boss Matthias Mueller reportedly told German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche that "˜a new generation of customers' would be needed before such a model would be suitable for the Porsche line-up.

Mueller's comments, however, may be a reflection of the fact that VW may be poised to pull the plug on the mid-engine Bluesport concept, which would have been the donor vehicle for the entry-level Porsche and possible Audi spin-off.

As Autocar reported last week, the Bluesport project could be fatally undermined by the fact that it might not be sold in the US, which is also the world's largest sports car market. VW's business plan to get to 800,000 sales in the US by 2018 does not, it seems, include niche models like the Bluesport.

"˜To get to 800k units, we don't need to keep adding to our portfolio of models. We're concentrating on our core models,' VW of America boss Jonathan Browning told Autocar.

The upshot is that, although engineering studies have been completed, the Bluesport has not yet been given the green light from a business perspective. VW engineering chief Uli Hackenberg says that the company's sales specialists have yet to find enough potential sales volume to make a viable business case for the model.

If VW does put the Bluesport project on ice, the Porsche and potential Audi versions of the mid-engined roadster would also be halted. It is possible, however, that Audi and Porsche could combine forces to build their own small mid-engined sports car, but any such model would probably be five years away.

 

[daro911]

Porsche's CEO, Matthias Mueller, has never seemed convinced by making a variant of the VW BlueSport roadster "" whose future is now in doubt "" to sit beneath the company's Boxster.

At the Paris motor show in 2010 Mueller told me there was no point making the BlueSport just for the sake of increasing Porsche's production volumes; regardless of how much Volkswagen's advisory board wanted him to do precisely that, from 100,000 to 150,000 cars per year.

Mueller argued that, if the new car stole sales from the more expensive (and more profitable) Boxster, Porsche could find itself in the unenviable position of making more cars but less money. Chase profit, not volumes, he said.

All reasonable enough. After all, how cheap could a sub-Boxster Porsche BlueSport be? Maybe £25,000? More likely £30,000. Close enough, in price and practicality, that even if it reached a new generation of Porsche buyers, it would tempt more still existing ones at the expense of its profitability.

Now, with the BlueSport's future in doubt after Volkswagen North America decided it doesn't need the car to stretch its sales volumes to 800,000 units a year, Porsche's fears will ready another nail for what seems like an inevitable hammering shut of the mahogany lid on the baby-Boxster's future.

While Porsche can swallow the development cost of the Cajun SUV even if it does eventually nick the odd Cayenne buyer (because the Audi Q5 has already footed the biggest part of the bill), without the VW BlueSport there's no way Porsche will pay to develop a roadster that endangers its existing sports car. If Porsche wants to reach downwards at all, maybe a modestly equipped four-pot Boxster would be a more palatable solution.

Some of my colleagues argue, not unreasonably, that the 1997 introduction of the Boxster signalled the beginning of the end for TVR. That in the Porsche, former TVR buyers found a destination for their thirty-odd grands without feeling they were doing the development and durability work for the company they'd just paid.

Fifteen years on, for very different reasons, the Boxster is still keeping other roadsters down.

 

[Russell Wheatley]

That's a shame as the Porsche/VW interpretation of the lightweight sports car would be an interesting alternative to the Lotus Elise/Mazda MX-5. Buy having a cost constraint means the company has to work smarter on the car. Also with the Boxster/991 putting on extra dimensions, a small light weight sports car is fun around the small country lanes. Not everyone wants a large sportscar/GT.

 

[Buddy]

And a much better interpretation too, Porsche have moved their market to some extent leaving a void where the original boxster was but if they bring in a more lightweight model as the 550 was promised to be then it may be considered as anything from a small production racer to an economical to run road sports car, there's certainly no quality competition in that market sector.

Could be a good market to take.

 

[flat6]

I think Porsche do identify a market. However, they have probably done research which suggests that many boxster owners would be interested. That for them is not a new market but an erosion of their higher profit market i.e. they lose. That is not to say that it won't attract a new type of buyer to the brand i.e. a new market., because it most certainly will. However, if they sold twice as many 550's as they did Boxsters and half as many Boxsters as they did before, they haven't gained anything (arbitrary example). The Cajun on the other hand is probably further away from the Cayenne and so probably doesn't pose the same problem.

What I don't understand is why they have increased the dimensions of the 981... Why does it need that?? The 987 already had a longer wheelbase than the 997.

(According to the documented dimensions the 981 is not wider than the 987 but is longer and has a longer wheelbase.)

 

[Buddy]

From a report I read in the past week they have widened the front of the 981 over the 987 which makes it same width front and rear so now overall width increase which is a good thing, the increase in length and wheelbase is not a good thing for some as you rightly say the 987 proportions are pretty good but I think the 550 wouldn't lose many Boxster owners but would bring in a new generation of Porsche owners, the thing that is likely to lose Boxster owners is the fact it is getting bigger.

Most Porsche owners park their cars in their garage, for me if the car is 8-10" longer than a 987 then I'd have to remove the bench or park on the drive, not keen on either. The only thing that keeps me with Porsche then is that I don't like anything else.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

ORIGINAL: flat6

What I don't understand is why they have increased the dimensions of the 981... Why does it need that?? The 987 already had a longer wheelbase than the 997.

(According to the documented dimensions the 981 is not wider than the 987 but is longer and has a longer wheelbase.)

The Boxster having the engine in front of the wheels will mean the wheelbase is longer...