How Porsche Could Build The ‘Affordable’ Sports Sedan That The VW Group Desperately Needs

Quick question: when was the last time you saw anyone in a newer Porsche sports coupe or sedan other than maybe a Boxster that didn’t look like they could be your dad? I’ll answer for you: it’s been a while. The average age of a 911 coupe buyer is around 52, and the average for a Panamera sedan is – get ready for it – 67 years old. Sixty-seven! That means that there are a solid number of seventy- and eighty-somethings probably picking these up. It’s like they’re sporty Buicks.

Look, it’s understandable that those with the means to buy six-figure semi-impractical luxury cars will be older. But in the decades before Macan and Cayenne SUVs, Porsche offered more affordable sports machines that weren’t crossovers and attracted younger buyers. It’s time they did the same, and I see a way to do it.

Laying Off 100,000 People Is Like The Population Of Dearborn

A little while back in The Morning Dump, Matt talked about a reason why some import auto makers are failing:

You know what the single biggest gripe I have about automakers is? … One I want to complain about today is the lack of local knowledge and expertise that foreign automakers apply to markets where they’re historically successful. Yes, I’m talking about foreign automakers who are initially crushing it abroad, but who then have their lunch eaten because they don’t seem to know what’s going on locally.

He was talking primarily about Asian firms, but an editorial comment from David Tracy really hit it home:

Am I crazy to consider Volkswagen in the U.S.? In the 1960s and 70s it was crushing it as an affordable brand, and even 12 or so years ago, it felt like VW was on top of the world, with the VW Vortex Forum humming along, and lots of Americans loving their slammed Jettas and GTIs. But in this crossover era, it seems to me that the Tiguan has been the sole winner. I think the Scout brand represents VW figuring it out.

Indeed, Volkswagen Group and some of its brands are struggling with an identity crisis; it’s one reason why I’ve been throwing out silly ideas like a new VW Thing to really get back to their roots as a maker of fun and quirky cars that people found irresistible.

It’s true that ever since the eighties it seems like Japanese and eventually Korean brands were better at filling the space VW had once dominated when the Beetle was by far the best-selling import. Volkswagen Group seems to be lost in terms of its value proposition against Japanese sedans and crossovers, and the Scout brand appears to be taking the same path of gestation as the ill-fated ID Buzz “bus” in terms of taking way too long to reach the market.

There’s a strong possibility that the Scout, like the $70,000 ID Buzz, will end up being viewed as too costly for what it is, and that’s something the Volkswagen brand itself suffers from with even intentionally higher-end products. As nice as they were, nobody wanted to pay over $60,000 for a Touareg with a VW logo on it (it’d likely be over $80,000 if they tried to sell it now).

Put a Porsche badge on the nose of that same SUV, however, and give the mechanicals and styling a tweak, and you’ve got a sales winner with an extra $10,000 attached to the price tag. No, the Cayenne is more than just a rebadged VW, but it’s close enough that it can be made profitably, and most people view it as a credit to the brand and not the cash grab some saw it as over two decades ago.

The Macan is the same formula as the Cayenne, made even more affordable, but what if you’re a buyer that wants a Porsche but doesn’t want a crossover SUV? Well, other than used, you’re out of luck, but four or five decades ago Porsche had some rather appealing options for you. I’d like to find a way to bring something similar back.

Poorch Pirates

Porsche 911 snobs have long turned up their noses at anything that didn’t have the motor hanging off the back like an otter’s tail, but less expensive mid- and front-engine Porsches kept the company afloat in the seventies and eighties and gave those that weren’t in the top tax brackets a lot of enjoyment.

Dare I say it? Here goes: products like the mid-engined 914 and the front-motor, rear-transaxle 944 handled better than a 911s of the time and were more fun to drive. And delivered that fun for far less money. Sure, the 914 was half-branded as a VW in Europe and had a Type 4 motor, while the 944 was assembled by Audi. So what? These things were legitimate Porsches that stayed true to the values of the brand; if anything, even more so than the massive plus-sized products that carry the 911 and Panamera name today.

Admittedly, the 944’s predecessor (the 924) was lacking when introduced for 1976, and the later 1992 968 successor was way too expensive for a by-then-dated product that was going up against Japanese competitors such as the Nissan Z32 and ND RX-7 that had caught up or surpassed the Porsche. However, for nearly a decade after its 1982 launch, the 944 was a reasonable value for an outstanding sports machine priced at around the same level as a Corvette.

No, it wasn’t cheap, but you didn’t need to be on Medicare or in the top 0.5 percentile of earners to be able to buy it. These things were popular in the go-go eighties as something a well-to-do North Shore Chicago parent might give to their kid. For example, one sweater-vested Jake, dream-boy to Molly Ringwald, of Sixteen Candles:

Often, they were driven by fast-track yuppies epitomized by the ill-fated cocaine-addicted “Christina” character in the 1986 song Welcome To The Boomtown (which name-checks the car at the beginning) by the underrated duo David + David.

What’s also cool about non-911 Porsches like the 914, 928, and the 924 variants is that they looked different. Sure, the surfacing still said “Porsche,” but they had distinct identities apart from the 911. Seriously, other than the Boxster, today’s Porsches all seem like 911s simply stretched, shrunken, or squished to meet whatever proportion was needed for the product segment.

I’d like to make a new “affordable” sports four-door “coupe” that takes a similar alternative path to making a brand-new “People’s Porsche” that, unlike the 911, doesn’t look at all like the VW Beetle “People’s Car.”

Fifty Years Later, The 924 Series Returns?

There are good reasons why the latest Porsches can only be bought by lawyers with their names on cheesy billboard ads; they are not cheap to build. So how do we make a Stuttgart-branded car that can be bought by the likes of a well-earning couple after the little ones get to kindergarten years and they’re done paying the $1500 a month for each kid in day care costs? They do exactly what VW Group did in the past: look at their corporate parts bin and make a worthy but cheaper Porsche.

To keep within the budget of expensive-but-not-insane, this new lower-cost Porsche sedan would be based on the Volkswagen Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), itself a continuation of the earlier MLB platform for modular longitudinal front engine layouts. In simplest terms, we need to start with an Audi A5 chassis and hone it on the Weissach track until it has the skills to be a Porsche.

This would give us a decent-sized product that’s nearly a foot shorter than a Panamera (and less than a foot longer than the now-massive 911). But what would it look like?

924, 944, 968; Maybe They’d Call It The 988?

In terms of styling, I used the much-loved 944 as an inspiration, mainly due to that car’s muscular flared fenders, which gave it a much more aggressive appearance than its 924 predecessor, which always looked a bit too wimpy, or at least did once the 944 appeared, as you can see below:

The low nose with retractable headlights and large glass hatchback were retained from the previous car. The subtle rubber spoiler was a nice touch, and Porsche was so cost-conscious that they put a hole in every rear backlight to avoid making two parts and just plugged it up if you were too cheap to opt for the rear wiper.

As I mentioned, by the 1992 introduction of the 968 version of the car, the whole 924/944/968 series was getting a bit long in the tooth:

Still, it’s a great-looking design; so much so that Mazda was seemingly heavily influenced by it (and the 928) with its 1986 FC RX-7 (also a great, underrated car in its own right, by the way).

We’d call this new Porsche the Tenerife; like Cayman, it’s named after a lovely island, except for some reason all I think of when I hear “Tenerife” is “world’s worst air disaster.” Oh well. Anyway, our new Tenerife would follow the design of the 944 as closely as possible, but naturally we’d have to change it a bit to make it into a four-door. Yes, I know, but we’re well aware that a two-door vehicle is dead on arrival in the American market today; at the very least, it won’t sell in numbers needed to make money.

Obviously, in 2026 we won’t have retractable lights, but the exposed headlamps are a bit reminiscent of the 924GTP racing car that preceded the 944 and had them exposed under clear covers.

The wraparound taillights were a 944 hallmark, and the latest taillight designs on most current Porsches will work well here. Also, as a hatchback we’d have decent cargo space (I forgot to draw cut lines but I’d like to see the opening go all the way down to the bumper).

Early 944s received the 924’s kind of a clunky almost-VW-Rabbit dash, but later models got a much nicer design with a wide mock-oval shape in front of the driver. Porsche 944 fans will laugh at the living hinge console armrest cover being broken off on this one like every other example out there.

We can emulate that for the Tenerife with a wide oval-shaped screen up. Unlike the Panamera and others, there would be nothing in front of the passenger since this is a lower-level car and the idea of a screen in front of a passenger is stupid anyway. Also, the “Sport Chrono” clock is incorporated into the digital display instead of separately on top of the dash (I have that one in my current Cayenne and I’ve used it precisely never).

Quattro all-wheel-drive would likely be standard with a rear-wheel bias, as would a version of the Audi S5 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 engine making at least 368 horsepower. More powerful options like stonking V8 performance could be available if Porsche isn’t too concerned with stepping on the bigger and more expensive Panamera’s toes. I’m not sure about electric or hybrid options, but the market has spoken that such powerplants are not on the most-wanted list for now.

Best Of All, It’s A Poorsh (Man, I Hate That)

Look, going “downmarket” is understandably a slippery slope if done incorrectly. The Cadillac Cimarron is maybe the best example of the worst. Some would point to the Maserati Biturbo too, which is understandable, but in retrospect they were fun, luxurious, and probably no more unreliable than any other Italian exotic of the day (or any day?). I bet I could get at least a few dozen Autopians to tell me stories of how much they loved owning their Porsche-branded car that didn’t have a 911 badge on it. I personally know some who owned both 911s and straight-four Porsches that will reluctantly admit the 944 was the better all-around car. If Audi A5s start at around $50,000, there is no reason that Porsche couldn’t make a legitimate sport sedan out of one for 50 percent more.

The VW Group could certainly turn a profit on a product like the Tenerife, and buyers would still be getting what amounts to a good value on a great real-deal German sports machine. Everyone would be happy, and we sure as hell could all use some wins today.

Top graphic base image: Kia