By Peter M. De Lorenzo
Detroit. With the introduction of its new Macan crossover at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, Porsche is about to embark on a journey where no performance-luxury automobile manufacturer has gone before. It’s a journey fraught with peril and one sure to set off endless hand-wringing, but it’s one that – if they can pull it off successfully - could transform the German automaker from being the crown jewel of profitability for the VW Group, into either the most desirable limited mass-market brand in the world, or yet another sad automaker that simply lost its way.
But wait a minute - haven’t we been down this road before with the introduction of the Cayenne? The large sport utility so far afield from the Porsche sports car mission that it seemed like a rolling misprint? Yes, to a degree, that is true.
The Cayenne was more than just a cynical attempt to cash in on the red-hot larger SUV segment at the time. Much more, in fact. It turns out that the Cayenne was the tip of an aggressive model expansion spear for Porsche, and though it initially offended some enthusiasts – me included – it proved that Porsche was perfectly capable of going after a super profitable segment that it had no prior experience with, and flat dominate at the high end of it.
And though the Cayenne was a clumsy, thrown-together segment entry upon intro, the first major revision to the SUV bristled with Porsche engineering touches, the most noteworthy being a weight reduction of almost 1000 lbs., plus a serious uptick in performance. In a few short years the Cayenne has become the larger performance-luxury SUV to have.
Today the Cayenne is joined by the company’s other unexpected hit, the Panamera - the four-door luxury-performance GT that also generated outcries of trepidation among old-school aficionados of the brand – and these two “un-Porsche “ models are now the two leading sales and profit generators for Porsche.
In a weird way Porsche has created a jarring dichotomy for itself in the market. On the one hand they have the 911, Boxster and Cayman sports cars for the enthusiasts who gravitate to the brand - and its brand image - in droves (although to be fair the new 911 has grown alarmingly to the point that it’s more of a GT-sized machine). And on the other they have the Cayenne, the Panamera (including a new “Executive” stretched-wheelbase model aimed directly at the Chinese market) and the new Macan, which was unveiled this week during the L.A. Auto Show media previews.
The Macan is the smaller crossover that, if we were privy to the fundamental engineering hard points, would reveal itself to have started out with the same underpinnings as the Audi Q5. From those beginnings, the vehicle architecture has been massaged by Porsche engineers and designers to the nth degree, with the result being a new nameplate addition to the Porsche lineup, and a whole bunch of questions that come along with it.
Will it be powerful? Yes, the Macan lineup will be powered by two of the same engines that appear in the Panamera, at least intitially. The standard 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 in the Macan S will deliver 340HP and the 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 in the Macan Turbo will deliver 400HP.
One thing that seems to be clear about the Macan is that the vehicle dynamics of this new machine are said to be spectacular, achieving heretofore unheard of levels of handling performance for vehicles of this class, which is consistent with Porsche’s management insisting that they can bring its “Porsche-ness” to new segments.
But after saying that, make no mistake, the implications for the Macan are different, not only because of the segment Porsche has chosen to compete in – the smaller crossover segment has been one of the hottest segments in the industry for some time now – but because this is Porsche veering into a mainstream segment overrun by product entries that typically qualify as suburban workhorses (along with other derogatory monikers, such as “mom mobiles”).
The Cayenne was one thing, as a sporty entry into a class that already started at a luxury price point, Porsche’s SUV entry found its calling and became an instant player. But with the Macan it’s different. This segment is as mainstream as it gets, and the players in it are decidedly ordinary and for the most part, uninspired. Will it stand out? I have no doubt whatsoever that it will. But I also get the feeling that Porsche is placing itself on the precipice of The Abyss, staring at a product leap that could inexorably alter its future, whereupon it becomes too common and too part of the mindless suburban crawl, or for performance-luxury manufacturers, what’s known as The Dark Side.
That Porsche was once exclusively a maker of sports cars that had a narrowly defined appeal with a hard-core group of enthusiast drivers - both for the brand’s enduring engineering quirkiness and the fact that when driven hard, the cars - the hallowed 911 in particular - demanded a considerable level of skill from its drivers in order to maximize their performance potential - seems like a distantly quaint notion now.
This “new” Porsche couldn't care less about that. Yes, of course, they’re going back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June to kick everybody’s ass, and they believe that by doing so they will remind the Porsche enthusiast faithful of the authentically rendered Porsche brand promise etched in stone so long ago, so that they will re-up for another couple of decades of unbridled adulation.
In other words, Porsche management wants to have its cake and be able to eat it too.
They want to see volume and profitability (aka the cake) grow exponentially with each new product foray, and yet while doing that they expect to be able to hold the attention and feverish devotion of its enthusiast faithful at the same time, with no residual damage to its image or credibility.
But the validity of the argument that Porsche management trots out – “the profits from the non-traditional Porsches (Cayenne, Panamera and now the Macan) allow us to develop even better sports cars” will eventually run its course.
Each deep dive into a “non-traditional” segment that Porsche doesn’t belong in erodes the brand. And with each new product offensive into segments that seem questionable, more of the Porsche faithful will simply fade away. And even though it happens in an almost imperceptible fashion, there is no doubt in my mind that if enough Porsches start showing up at soccer games across America on Saturdays, any specialness attached to the brand will eventually fade away too.
By then, whatever Porsche once stood for back at its founder’s inception will get lost in a fog of indifference. And for the fans of the “new” Porsche, their frame of reference for what Porsche stands for and why it’s desirable will be what, exactly? That they make cool crossovers?
That this “new” Porsche is damn-near unrecognizable to the Porsche faithful goes without saying. But that ship has sailed and there’s no turning back.
The “new” Porsche will unequivocally and unapologetically compete in any market segment it so chooses, as long as the vehicle in question exudes true “Porsche-ness” by management’s estimation. And aggressive sales and profit targets are not only part and parcel of the “new” Porsche - they have now become its raison d’etre.
In short, Porsche wants it all.
At some point, however, there will be a cost.
And at some point, the “new” Porsche will end up being – horror of horrors - just another car company.
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.
(Images courtesy of Porsche)
