Did the 914 save Porsche ?, Rumors ... or true story Options

[johannes]

I have read that Porsche was in a not so good financial situation in the early seventies...
I also read that 914 was the best sold Porsche ... as in Europe it has always been considered as a commercial fiasco ...
I also read that Porsche had very low margins on the 914 ...

Did the 914 save Porsche ? Do you know the real story ? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

By the way , what was the % of 914 sold in USA vs Europe and rest of the world ?

[JoeSharp]

No. VW of America saved Porsche.

[BMartin914]

I also read that 914 was the best sold Porsche

Hardly...

[Bleyseng]

No, it was "VW/PORCHE-AUDI"

I have read that the 914 for Porsche was a commerical success. The 911 was really expensive for a car in the early '70's and the sales of 114,000 914's was enough to keep cash poor Porsche afloat or in the Black with all the 917 racing expenses!
We had the falling US Dollar back then as the 914 went from $3500 in 70 to $7500 in 76. The 911 prices skyrocketed to then! So these were both fairly pricey cars.

Most of the guys I knew who came back from Vietnam with their GI $$$$ bought Muscle cars not 914's.

[Gustl]

By the way , what was the % of 914 sold in USA vs Europe and rest of the world ?

in different litarature I've read similar things about that question

about 70% for the US market (not sure if Canada is included)
about 30% rest of the world (by far the most for the german market)



(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wavey.gif) Gustl

[lapuwali]

I also read that 914 was the best sold Porsche

Hardly...

Actually, this is partly true. I believe that it was the most successful Porsche model up to that time. More 914s were sold than 356s, 912s, or 911s by 1976, even though the 911 had been sold for 12 years by that time, while the 914 had only been sold for 6. In terms of cars sold per year, the 914 was top dog until pretty recently. The Boxster may have outsold it by now.

It's certainly possible the car was never all that profitable, however. "Commercial disaster" can be defined in many ways.

[JoeSharp]

Check your stats Ben...
If VW of America (the parent company of Porsche of America) had not shoved the 914 down the thorat of Porsche of America the dealers in America would not have recived the boots the really were in need of.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

[cooltimes]

I have read that Porsche was in a not so good financial situation in the early seventies...
I also read that 914 was the best sold Porsche ... as in Europe it has always been considered as a commercial fiasco ...
I also read that Porsche had very low margins on the 914 ...

Did the 914 save Porsche ? Do you know the real story ? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

By the way , what was the % of 914 sold in USA vs Europe and rest of the world ?

I doubt it but who knows. I bought a 914 in 1970. If they had been in need of money, the blitz of ads would have been seen. Only ad back then that I ever saw was in Esquire magazine while sitting in a marriage counselor waiting room.
I think there was about a dozen 914's sold in all of Tennessee during those years.
Porsche was owned by VW then anyhow. VW also bought Audi and the Audi may have been what helped them financially. As someone mentioned VW/Porsche Audi says it all.
This above is just an opinion of what I felt was happening back then since I was there and into the market for buying one of their products.

MikeCool
Jackson TN.

[mskala]

I also read that 914 was the best sold Porsche

Hardly...

It is true, at the time the 914 was discontinued, it had sold more in its
7 years than the 911 (in 12 years), 912, and 356 (~13 years).

It was then surpassed in sales by of all things, the 924 in the early 80's.

Of course by now there's over 300000 911's.

[GWN7]

By the way , what was the % of 914 sold in USA vs Europe and rest of the world ?

in different litarature I've read similar things about that question

about 70% for the US market (not sure if Canada is included)
about 30% rest of the world (by far the most for the german market)



(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wavey.gif) Gustl

I've heard or read it was 70% of sales to North America, but I'm not sure it was like that back in the 70's

[johannes]

I also read that 914 was the best sold Porsche

Hardly...

Actually, this is partly true. I believe that it was the most successful Porsche model up to that time. More 914s were sold than 356s, 912s, or 911s by 1976, even though the 911 had been sold for 12 years by that time, while the 914 had only been sold for 6. In terms of cars sold per year, the 914 was top dog until pretty recently. The Boxster may have outsold it by now.

It's certainly possible the car was never all that profitable, however. "Commercial disaster" can be defined in many ways.

That's very funny ... In all the books you can read it was very unsuccessfull...
That may be true in Europe... For sure it was under VW's expectations ... did it sell more than the Karman Ghia ????

It's called unsuccess because, most european people find it ugly and it was only produced 6 years ...
In my opinion ( first of all the 914 is far from ugly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ) ... It was built 6 years not because of unsuccess, but because :

1 Margin was not as expected ... (almost no part was produced by Porsche)

2 Porsche staff wanted to replace aircoold by watercooled because of noise and pollution issues. At this time they wanted to stop the 911 and replace it with 928.
Their target was to have the 928 and a "small 928" ... the 924... both watercooled.

[Scott Carlberg]

Check your stats Ben...
If VW of America (the parent company of Porsche of America) had not shoved the 914 down the thorat of Porsche of America the dealers in America would not have recived the boots the really were in need of.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

VW is NOT the parent company of Porsche.
Porsche is AND always has been a Family-owned business.
The heads of the two companies, VW & Porsche, were at one time related (and still might be) but VW has NEVER been the parent company of Porsche.

The VW/Porsche-Audi dealerships were just that, 'just' dealerships.
VW is the parent company to Audi, Seat, Bentley, Lamborghini etc, but not Porsche.

[BMartin914]

Check your stats Ben...
If VW of America (the parent company of Porsche of America) had not shoved the 914 down the thorat of Porsche of America the dealers in America would not have recived the boots the really were in need of.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

The reason for my statement is that I was reading through one of my automotive history books last night and came across this snippit in the "PORSCHE" section:

An agreement with Volkswagen in 1969 culminated in the birth of the VW-Porsche marque, which produced only one car, the relatively unsuccessful mid-engine 914.

Albeit that this book was published in the UK, so that may skew the view a little, but sales numbers would dictate a "successful" car or an "unsuccessful" one...

The author seems to view the 914 as an unsuccessful venture...go figure...

[JoeSharp]

Scott: VW of America ( a distrubutor) is the parent company of Porsche of America (also a distrubutor) and is also the parent company of Audi of America (also as distrubutor).
That is the reason that VW of America was so strong is the company. VW of America made more money for the company than the rest of the world.
70 percent of all sales.
So much so that VW paid for the 917's.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

[Scott Carlberg]

Scott: VW of America ( a distrubutor) is the parent company of Porsche of America (also a distrubutor) and is also the parent company of Audi of America (also as distrubutor).
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

..I disagree with you Joe. (ain't America GREAT!)

NO mention here of Porsche in either VW group:
http://www.volkswagen.com/vwcms_publish/vw...en/konzern.html


Porsche = Independence:
http://www.porsche.com/usa/aboutporsche/po...oweare/aps1244/

[Brad Roberts]

I have dedicated myself to educating the media the best I can refuting the published "failure" of these cars. This website is an extension of that attempt.

In the SF bay area in 2003 there were Boxsters EVERYWHERE. Porsche produced "only" 80k some odd Boxsters over the same 6 year time frame. I started questioning what I had been reading (poor sales) started digging in and found the Boxster sales numbers as well as all the 911's (I was doing market research for the purchase of SSI) I concluded that the 914 sold DAMN well for the 6 years it was produced.

I would imagine they were all over the place in the 70's also (much like the Boxsters flying around in Silicon Valley)

Each time I see someone "publish" something saying the "poor sales" crap.. I send a friendly email with some hard numbers backing it up.


B

[Bleyseng]

I have dedicated myself to educating the media the best I can refuting the published "failure" of these cars. This website is an extension of that attempt.

In the SF bay area in 2003 there were Boxsters EVERYWHERE. Porsche produced "only" 80k some odd Boxsters over the same 6 year time frame. I started questioning what I had been reading (poor sales) started digging in and found the Boxster sales numbers as well as all the 911's (I was doing market research for the purchase of SSI) I concluded that the 914 sold DAMN well for the 6 years it was produced.

I would imagine they were all over the place in the 70's also (much like the Boxsters flying around in Silicon Valley)

Each time I see someone "publish" something saying the "poor sales" crap.. I send a friendly email with some hard numbers backing it up.


B

They were everywhere in Seattle!! My friends and I used to play "Is it a six game?" Trying to identify a 914 if it was a six or not before seeing the back emblem.

Rode in a few back then too. I have never seen the profit/loss figures on the 914.

Wonder what Porsche did make on the car as it fit perfectly in their lineup as a indtroductory model at the time.

Geoff

[BMartin914]

It's a conspiracy!

[GWN7]

It's a conspiracy!

There is a write up in the WCC 05 handout that follows the same theory... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[lapuwali]

So, what ARE the top sellers for Porsche over time? The top year for the 914 was 1973, when 28,400 were made (production numbers are probably easy to get than sales numbers).

I've seen 911 production data for that period (don't have it handy, but I think it was less than half what the 914 did that year). I've never seen 924, 944, or Boxster production data.

I'm willing to bet the 914 is in the top three of cars produced in one year since the company was founded.