I simply don't get it..., The demise of the 914 was because why? Options

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

During my lunch break on Friday I stopped in a nearby tobacco shop for a Trinidad (the cigar, not my girlfriend (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ) and the store had a BUNCH of magazines so I checked some out. One particular British rag, 911 & Porsche, had a sexy Martini 911 Turbo on the cover. I bought it. One thing I really like about the British rags is that they are liberal with their color photographs, unlike American ones.

First, there's a very cool article on Porsche tractors and now I want one (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) But, second, the below insert caught my eye. For a vehicle with continuous praise for handling and race-car features, was it written off simply because of drooping sales? Granted, the 4-banger engine was the only [in my mind] weak link but the six...oh, the six!...was what made the 914.

And this rubbish from the affictiandos (which seem to comprise primarily of 356 & 911 owners) that the 914 wasn't a real Porsche -- why? Simply because of the 4-banger (then is the 912 considered a "Not A Real Porsche")? Because of the VW powerplant (356ers are more VW than Porsche, at least the early units)?. Honestly, what are their reasons? It didn't win [enough] races?

I think they are simply envious (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[scotty]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) I think it was $$$ -- they just weren't making enough off the 914. The mid 70's were really tough on car makers.

[davep]

Volkswagen wanted the Karmann production line for other purposes in 1976 and forced the shutdown. Apparently Porsche was livid at the announcement.

[Joe Bob]

Smog laws.....the 924 was coming, the 944 was coming, the 928.....impact requirments...yada yada..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

[seanery]

weren't 914s as pricey or more than corvettes at the time? That didn't help.

[JeffBowlsby]

The German Mark was escalating due to inflation faster than the Yen and the Dollar. The 914/4s were steeply priced compared to the American muscle cars, the Datsun 240Z, and the Fiat 124s were publicized as performing better. If you wnated a mid-engine -targa car...there was always the X1-9.

The 914 was perceived as too expensive and was beat by the competition.

[EdwardBlume]

The chassis were more expensive than previously thought, and although they dumped the 914-6, sales and interest in the cars weren't enough to raise the price to a decent level. AKA - Bad timing.

People have screamed for years for a low priced 914 like car, but Porsche just isn't going there. When you can clear $440 million for C-GTs, why mass produce $30K underpowered single use cars? The Boxster was/is as close as they come.

[red914]

X-19! i think i saw one the other day; or was it a pile of iron oxide in the shape of an X-19? tough to tell.

and we think we have rust problems..

[GWN7]

Porsches revenue is up 17% over last year and sales in Canada are up 53% over last years. From a news article in the automotive section of the local paper. They are bringing a "entry level" Cayanne to the market. Starts at 53k but you can option it up from there. I guess they are building what that market segment wants now.

[Jake Raby]

Some of us think that all Real Porsches are 4 cylinders and that the six is just an expensive heavyweight replacement.........

You are trying to tell me that a 547 Carrera engine isn't a Porsche because its not a 6 cylinder??? Thats rubbish! I do work on them and can say that I have never seen such a masterpiece before.

The 912 is just as much of a Porsche as any other.... So what if it has a 4 cylinder?? The early version of that engine can be made to hold 50HP per cylinder as well.... Who cares if its old, thats why its still around!

The 914 is a cross between VW and Porsche, we all know that.... Just because not many people have been able to manipulate the -4 914 engine into doing its job perfectly does not mean that its inferior or junk.

I take pride in the sticker on the back of my car.... It says "Hell no its not a six"!

I like the 6 cylinder engine as well, but they are not the end of all problems with 914s or any Porsche.

[lapuwali]

A combination of factors: smog regulations in the US were indeed making it very hard to produce powerful cars. Water-cooled engines are inherently easier to make clean (as well as quiet), and the market for "real" sports cars (uncomfortable and noisy) was disappearing as cars got more and more expensive. Porsche were themselves trying to replace the 911 with the 928. The 924, while not orginally Porsche's idea (neither was the 914), looked like it could fill that role. If certain factions within Porches had their way, air-cooled rear-engined Porsches would have vanished by 1980.

[Bleyseng]

I have always understood that Porsche was interested in a replacement for the 912, a low end Porsche. VW was looking for a replacement for the KarmannGhia. It was a joint effort with Porsche doing the design work. Thats why they formed the VW/Porsche company to sell these cars. Porsche had the 914/6 cars it wanted but the bodies from VW were too expensive and priced the six car too high in the market. Even I remember that!
VW management made the change to go with front wheel drive cars after Nordoff died and had no interest in the 914 other than they needed the production line at Karmann to build the Scirroco cars.
Porsche bought VW's interests out in 74 and wanted to continue building the cars as they were still selling well (17-20k units) when Porsche needed Sales to help make money. They weren't making a killing on 911's then either with the high exchange rate. Yes, by 74 the 914 was a top of its segment sports car but people were buying them as they were buying 911's.
VW killed the 914 since Porsche had no place to build it, they even considered moving building it to Zuffenhausen!

Geoff (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mueba.gif)

[Dave_Darling]

Why did they kill the 914-6? Because the Six sold for almost as much as a 911T, which had more power and was faster. And which Porsche made more money on--the cost to Porsche of building a 914-6 was very noticeably higher than that of building the low-end 911T! And they had to sell them for less.

Why did they kill the 914-4? For all of the reasons mentioned. The price was too high in comparison with other sporty cars on the market--particularly when you looked at the straight-line performance, which is all most of the contemporary magazines (and a lot of people) seemed to care about. It was getting tougher and tougher to get decent performance out of the motor while meeting the new smog regs... At least, without spending a whole lot more money than they were willing to spend! VW wanted the production capacity back. A certain (powerful) faction within the company had decided front-engine watercooled cars were the future. The joint-marketing company was turning out to be a royal pain to run and was losing money. There were too many people put off by the "VW-Porsche" badge that the car had in Europe, where it was made. And so on...

Sales really were sliding when the 914 was killed off. Porsche could have evolved the car and probably had good sales for a while longer, but they thought they knew where their future was--in the 924 and the 928. And they were pretty cash-poor at the time, because they had to buy VW's share of the 924 project out--so there wasn't any money to redesign or even freshen-up the 914.

Lots of reasons the car was axed. Too bad...

--DD

[RAR]

This was already alluded to, but there was a handshake agreement between VW and Porsche (and Karmann). One of the parties died, and with new management came a clean slate, and all the afore mentioned items. At one time the 928 was going to become Porsche's new flagship. Problem was, folks still wanted the 911.

[Joe Bob]

Not to mention that the 928 handled like a freight car....

[Scott Carlberg]

I've read multiple times that the 914-6 OUT-performed the 911, AND the 911 cost more, which made the factory not happy at all.

Similar to their belief that they didn't want teams racing the 928, 944T, Boxster etc... the factory wants the 911 to be the top dog.

[GWN7]

Some interesting reading.....

Porsche skids off Frankfurt index
Sunday, August 12, 2001

By Susan Mitchell

The decision to drop the carmaker from the MDAX follows a long standoff over Porsche's refusal to submit quarterly reports, which became a requirement for index membership this year.

Porsche disputes the notion that such reports would improve investor relations or provide better insight into the company's financial situation.

Arguing that they would be liable to confuse investors in what is a highly cyclical industry, Porsche claimed that "quarterly reports are first and foremost a plan to drum up business for Deutsche Borse AG and the banks".

It's not the first time that Dr Wendelin Wiedeking, president and chief executive of Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has adopted a somewhat unorthodox approach.

When he took control in 1992 the company was in deep trouble and had spat out four chief executives in the previous 12 years.

He killed off two much-loved model lines, sacked 1,850 workers (the majority white-collar employees), and employed a ruthless Japanese consulting group -- which remains a sensitive issue among Porsche's engineers.

The company accelerated from a stg £98 million lossmaker into one of the world's most efficient car makers. Worldwide, sales have risen sevenfold in the nine years since he has been at the helm and he has introduced the two most successful model ranges in the company's history, the Boxster and the 911.

In the year ending July 2001 sales reached a record high and turnover was excess £3.22 billion, with pretax profits were over £402 million (exact figures are not disclosed).

Porsche's history antedates its sports cars and began when a struggling automotive engineer, Ferdinand Porsche, befriended a fringe politician, Adolf Hitler, at a road race in the 1920s.

After Hitler gained power he was determined to demonstrate the superiority of German cars to the world and the small engineering firm was soon awarded large contracts with major manufacturers.

During the war Ferdinand created the Volkswagen and the company thrived on lucrative contracts for designs of jeep-type vehicles, tanks, airplane engines and parts for the V-1 flying bomb.

Ferdinand had two children: Louise and Ferry. Although Ferry spent the war as a civilian, he was an honorary officer in the SS, an appointment made personally by SS Chief Heinrich Himmler.

A number of key German industrialists were prosecuted after the war, but the Porsches avoided this fate. However, Ferdinand and his son-in-law, Anton Piech, were jailed by the French occupation forces and held without trial for 17 months. A large bribe is alleged to have secured their release.

After the war, Ferry took over at Porsche and Anton Piech was appointed chairman at Volkswagen. Ferry encouraged his sons to enter the business and groomed his eldest, Butzi, to assume control. Louise, who owned the other half of the company, had equally high aspirations for her son Ferdinand.

The cousins collaborated brilliantly over the design of the first 911 in 1963, but the relationship soon soured. In a joint decision, Ferry and Louise banned the younger generation from management.

Porsche was transformed into a publicly traded company, but all voting stock was divided between the two families.

Boardroom rivalries continued and soon tumbled into the bedroom. Ferdinand Piech, current chairman of Volkswagen, had an affair with the wife of one of his cousins and they had two children out of wedlock. The saga reached epic proportions when he married the kids' nanny.

Following the stock market crash of October 1987, Porsche's sales tumbled. Market studies in the early 1990s showed that the public image was so poor that someone spotted driving a Porsche created what one internal source described as "the asshole effect". This was the minefield from which Wiedeking emerged victorious.

Some 50 family members benefit from ownership of Porsche Holding, Austria's largest auto dealer, all voting shares of Porsche AG, one of the last remaining independent carmakers. They enjoy a combined estimated wealth of $6.7 billion.

Deutsche Borse's announcement is not expected to affect investor confidence.

Porsche is to be removed from the index on September 24. But Wiedeking will be more concerned with the launch of the Cayenne into the Range Rover market next year.

Porsche AG, one of Germany's most prestigious companies, has been ejected from Frankfurt's index of mid-size companies by stock exchange operator Deutsche Borse.

[garyh]

Volkswagen wanted the Karmann production line for other purposes in 1976 and forced the shutdown. Apparently Porsche was livid at the announcement.

FWIW, exactly the same answer was uncovered in my research.

[JWest]

When he took control in 1992...

...He killed off two much-loved model lines,

...he has introduced the two most successful model ranges in the company's history, the Boxster and the 911.

The 928 and 968 were much-loved? Not by consumers!

"He" introduced the 911 model sometime after 1992?!? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Hard to believe anything in the article when it contains "facts" like these!

[Seagrave]

When it all comes to the bottom line, who really cares? Most of the Porsche folks I know consider the 914 to be one of the family. Those that decry the VW heritage ignore the fact that VW is the ancestor of all the Porsches. Consider this, there are plenty of 911's out there to be purchased but the limited lifetime of the 914 makes it a car that you don't see very often. Despite the media panning of the styling (picnic basket) the design is remarkably good looking even today. It's never been about "real" Porsches anyway. The cult is the sports car, not just the Porsche, and the 914 qualifies in either regard.