Porsche targets younger buyers with Cayman S; vehicle to be built in Finland, Stuttgart
JENS MEINERS | Automotive News Europe
Posted Date: 3/22/05
Porsche will aim its new Cayman S coupe at younger buyers.
The two-seat Cayman S – Porsche’s coupe version of the Boxster – will debut in September at the Frankfurt auto show.
“The average buyer for the Cayman will be younger than for the Boxster,” said Hans Riedel, Porsche executive vice president of sales and marketing, during an interview at the Geneva auto show.
The average buyer of the Boxster is 42. People who buy the Cayenne SUV have an average age of 45, while 911 buyers are, on average, 49.
The Cayman S will be slotted between the 911 Carrera and Porsche Boxster S. But it will be priced higher than the Boxster S because its six-cylinder, 3.4-liter, 295hp engine is more powerful than the Boxster S’s 280hp unit.
Porsche hopes to broaden the appeal of the Cayman S by giving it a hatch and a larger trunk than the Boxster S.
Porsche said it named the car after the caiman, a species of small crocodilian known to be swift and nimble. At Porsche the letter S denotes a special model. The name Cayman S suggests that Porsche also will introduce a base model with less power.
Coachbuilder Valmet of Finland will assemble the Cayman S starting this summer. A small number also will be built in Stuttgart, Germany. Porsche has not released its annual production target for the car.
Additional model line?
Riedel said Porsche will decide by year-end whether to build an additional model line.
Press reports say a new four-seat model likely will be called the Panamera and at least 20,000 units a year would be built at Porsche’s plant in Leipzig, Germany.
Riedel said a decision on the new line is not urgent. “No one is pressing us, and we will make the decision in time. We will bring the car when necessary.”
The possible new model line would help Porsche meet a mid-term goal of increasing sales to 100,000 units. In the six months ending January 31, Porsche sold 35,732 vehicles worldwide.
Cayman S
Mas que vuelta del 944 yo lo veo como la evoluciçon logica del 914, que si bien es un vehiculo de lo mas peculiar, en mi modesta opinion se trata de una configuracion interesantisima de la que Porsche ha hecho oidos sordos durante muuuuuuuuuchos años (supongo que para no afectar a las ventas del 911)