Porsche’s lineup now includes a line of SUVs, starting with the Cayenne, and now with the Macan.

When I first learned that Porsche was going to get into the SUV business, it certainly took me by surprise. i remember cringing! Of course, the Panamera sedan has been introduced as well. Now I’ve driven a Panamera Turbo, and I will tell you it is an incredibly impressive car, performance-wise. However, it might be one of the ugliest sedans I’ve ever seen. Anybody who says his car looks good really needs to get their eyes checked. The back end looks like it belongs on another car entirely. Or not on any car at all. Also, the way Porsche designs their interiors nowadays, I feel that they use way too many buttons. The buttons all look so similar. I can’t see how one would ever get used to all of these buttons easily at all. I would imagine that many owners don’t use 95% of them often enough to get used to them. Nevertheless, Porsche’s foray into the SUV and sedan world have proven to be quite successful as they’ve certainly accounted for a very large portion of Porsche’s annual profit. We certainly see them all over the place, but these vehicles are being bought by people who want something a little bit more sporty than their garden-variety sedan and SUV choices, and of course, carry Porsche emblems on them. They a likely far from being purists.

I find that with Porsche’s current sports car lineup, there’s just far too many variants of every model. If you go on Porsche’s website and try to configure a car, there seems to be a hundred different variations of the 911 that you can configure. It gets a little confusing, and certainly makes the higher level models less special because they look so much like their garden-variety versions. Only when you get to the very special versions of the 911 do they get more differentiated, such as with a GT3 RS and models of that nature.

Just like any manufacturer, Porsche needs to remain highly profitable to stay in business. Unfortunately, when a brand is trying to become more mainstream, they can very easily lose some of the magic that made them special in the 1st place. It’s a fine line – stay special, or become mainstream. Porsche is dangerously close to being mainstream, if they aren’t already.

I’d like to see Porsche start to streamline their line-up a bit. I see no issue with continuing on with the 911 moniker, as it’s such a storied model that really has defined Porsche. I also don’t have a problem with them keeping a similar design theme going forward, but they really should try to differentiate each generation just a tad more. I’d like to be able to look at a 911 and easily identify what era is from, and I don’t find I’m able to do so with the last few generations of the car.

I did get to drive a Boxster S, I forgot what year it was, but found it to be quite a satisfying little car. It’s very nicely packaged, and that’s what gives this car its magic. It doesn’t have an overabundance of power, but the power level is very nicely matched up with its handling and braking capabilities. It’s a fun little car that really reminds one of cars from the past that were more minimalist. There are far too many manufacturers nowadays that just put more powerful engines in their cars and call it a day, not elevating braking and handling levels to go along with the power upgrades. They really are missing the mark. An example of this would be earlier Mercedes AMG variants, or more currently, the Dodge Hellcat.

Minimalist cars that are nicely packaged are cars like a Mazda Miata. It’s a very nicely balanced, and that’s what makes it so much fun. It certainly will not win any power awards, but it’s a very fun car to drive just because of how nicely packaged it is. Another car from my past that would fall into this segment would be something like a Toyota MR2.

I just don’t want to see Porsche lose its way and become a brand that becomes over-diluted and loses its magic.

So even though I spent 12 years selling Ferraris, Porsche was the first exotic brand that really got my juices going!