Re: Japanese vs German CARS

[ms fokkema <michiel.fokkema@tip.nl>]

Mark Bishop wrote:
> 
> Charles E Love jr <cel14@cornell.edu> wrote:
> >>>
> I don't know whether I should bother to get into all this again (cheers from
> the lurkers)--but: The Acura NSX, though a very different car, gives the top
> 911 a run for its money (as a couple of recent comparison tests show) ,and
> has been described by more than one "motoring journalist" as "the best
> sports car ever made, at any price."  That car, along with such worthy (and
> high-priced) machines as the Toyota Supra, Nissan 300 ZX, and Mazda RX-7,
> could not be described by any fair-minded observer in the way you do above.
> Love 'em or hate 'em, but each of them has tremendous character, is unique,
> reflects extensive racing experience,  and is surely built in part out of
> love--just like a 911.  I realize that Porsche--and Leica--are in the eyes
> of their fans somehow "purer;" after all, the Japanese car companies named
> above also build inexpensive, utilitarian cars, and Canon and Nikon do the
> same with cameras.  But Porsche and Leica don't have unblemished
> histories--read on.
> 
> The Porsches I was talking about in my post  were conveniently left out of
> your reply. Certainly I wasn't talking about the 928 (which of course had no
> Japanese competition, since it was a $100,000 Grand Touring car) or the 911
> (which in the eyes of its devotees has no competition at all--maybe it is an
> M6).  What nearly killed Porsche was the failure of their mass market
> mid-priced front-engine water-cooled cars (the 924 and relatives), cars
> which you don't mention above, cars whose sales revenues were supposed to
> support niche products like the 911 and 928.
> <<<
> 
> Sorry, but I really do beg to differ with this. Firstly, and most importantly,
> the 924/944/968-series cars did *not* almost bring Porsche down. Quite the
> reverse: they may not have sold well in the States, and let's face it, few
> Americans were going to pay that sort of money for only gour cylinders,
> especially in the early days when it was really a VW LT van engine ;-). But in
> Europe these models sold well and were solid earners, which were killed off by
> the vast cost of adapting to tougher Europen Community emissions and noise
> standards.
> No, the abject sales failure of the 928, which was intended as a 911 replacement
> but never succeeded as such, went way over budget in development, had its launch
> delayed and engine size reduced (expensively) in a panic attempt to avoid
> launching a behemoth into the middle of the oil crisis. The 911 is profitable,
> but does not sell in sufficient volume to support Porsche as an independent
> concern - in this respect, I agree with your Leica analogy - the rangefinder is
> the purist product, but the SLR line is needed for volume. This is why the
> company badly needs the so-called Boxster if it is to survive out of anything
> other than largesse on the part of the controlling Piech family (although, as
> owners of substantial amount of Volkswagen stock, they can afford to indulge
> their love of sports cars...).
> I agree with you that the Honda/Acura NS-X is a great car. In pure technological
> terms, it is light years ahead of a 911 and, if your goal is to drive extremely
> quickly, safely, it is the better car. But the V6 engine does not sound anything
> like as exhilarating as a Porsche's flat six, the clever suspension irons out
> perhaps too much road feedback and sense of drama. It is perhaps the automotive
> equivalent of a Canon EOS-1n, whereas the Porsche 911 is closer to a Leica R6.2.

Please stop talking about cars on the leica list.

	Michiel.