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914World.com _ Originality and History _ History of Porsche on AWE channel
Posted by: bulitt Jun 14 2014, 07:26 PM
So I caught a show on AWE on the history of Porsche. They mentioned the 914 for literally 10 seconds. And they made the statement- The 4 cylinder model was to have Volkswagen badges and sold as a VW model, and the 6 cylinder would be a Porsche model!
Wonder if that was a true statement? If so why did the 4cyl end up with the 914 VW-Porsche emblem?
Was the 6 dropped due to low demand or to protect the 911?
Sure this has all been covered before!
Posted by: orthobiz Jun 15 2014, 09:18 AM
Without looking it up, my flawed memory sees the 914 as a collaborative between VW and Porsche. VW supplied body/chassis and other bits, supplied to Porsche for finishing. The 4 would be VW-Porsche and the 914-6 would be Porsche only. Because it was so light, detuned engines 110 hp supplied or it would run circles around the 911. The forward looking VW guy dies and the new guy doesn't care so the VW supplied stuff was more expensive and the 914 was relatively high priced. Something like that in 30 seconds or less.
Paul
Posted by: Johny Blackstain Jun 15 2014, 10:56 AM
The 914 was labeled a VW-Porsche in Europe for 2 reasons: it was a collaboration between the 2 companies & marketing (they felt it would sell better w/ a VWP badge over a plain VW badge). The car was always labeled as a Porsche in the US for the same reason; marketing, regardless of 4 vs. 6. From Porsches point of view it was designed to replace the 912. From VWs it was supposed to replace the Karmann Ghia. The way I read it there was a gentleman's agreement between Ferry Porsche & the then current director of VW to provide 914 chassis to Porsche @ cost from the Karmann factory, but either 3 or 5 days before the deal went through the director of VW died & the new guy saw no reason to honor the agreement. This caused the price to go up for Porsche who in turn had to raise the price to the consumer. Just a few years before this Porsche was forced to buy the Reutter coachworks because they had refused to cover the cost of retooling their factory to produce 911s instead of 356s, so Porsche was in no financial position to argue w/ the new head of VW. I believe the 6 was dropped for both reasons- poor sales & to protect the 911 (a car that Porsche had gone way out on a limb to produce). Sales were not helped either by the NARP (not a real Porsche) label, especially when the dealers were the ones saying it. I find this astonishing since 356s & 912s were VW powered. Porsche did do R&D on the 914 though, creating the GTs & the 916. GTs were race cars & the 916 was not put into production because it would have cost $5k more than the top of the line 911 @ the time. Also, Paul is right- a well sorted out 914 will run circles around a 911 & Porsche just can't have that. It's the same reason they don't put their best gear in the Boxster & Cayman today- can't make something that's better than the 911. Maybe if they produced better Caymans they would have @ least won the GTE Pro & GTE Am classes @ Le Mans this year, instead of letting those tittles go to Ferrari & Aston Martin.
Posted by: Pat Garvey Jun 17 2014, 06:01 PM
The 914 was labeled a VW-Porsche in Europe for 2 reasons: it was a collaboration between the 2 companies & marketing (they felt it would sell better w/ a VWP badge over a plain VW badge). The car was always labeled as a Porsche in the US for the same reason; marketing, regardless of 4 vs. 6. From Porsches point of view it was designed to replace the 912. From VWs it was supposed to replace the Karmann Ghia. The way I read it there was a gentleman's agreement between Ferry Porsche & the then current director of VW to provide 914 chassis to Porsche @ cost from the Karmann factory, but either 3 or 5 days before the deal went through the director of VW died & the new guy saw no reason to honor the agreement. This caused the price to go up for Porsche who in turn had to raise the price to the consumer. Just a few years before this Porsche was forced to buy the Reutter coachworks because they had refused to cover the cost of retooling their factory to produce 911s instead of 356s, so Porsche was in no financial position to argue w/ the new head of VW. I believe the 6 was dropped for both reasons- poor sales & to protect the 911 (a car that Porsche had gone way out on a limb to produce). Sales were not helped either by the NARP (not a real Porsche) label, especially when the dealers were the ones saying it. I find this astonishing since 356s & 912s were VW powered. Porsche did do R&D on the 914 though, creating the GTs & the 916. GTs were race cars & the 916 was not put into production because it would have cost $5k more than the top of the line 911 @ the time. Also, Paul is right- a well sorted out 914 will run circles around a 911 & Porsche just can't have that. It's the same reason they don't put their best gear in the Boxster & Cayman today- can't make something that's better than the 911. Maybe if they produced better Caymans they would have @ least won the GTE Pro & GTE Am classes @ Le Mans this year, instead of letting those tittles go to Ferrari & Aston Martin.
Yeah, Porsche sucked at LeMans this year. Lots of pre-race hype and lotsa money spent for a poor placement. They'd better wake up, or just go away.
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