probably more has to do w Porsche being in a shitter due to their idiotic EV push and a huge drop in profitablity.
when Top Gear interviewed Mate Rimac on the reveal of Tourbillon two things struck me as odd:
1 - Mate said “Porsche guys wanted me to just put a Bugatti skin on the Nevera”
2 - Mate sourced the engine from Cosworth, which is NOT part of VW group
so he spat in the face of both Porsche and VW essentially saying “i don’t need you or care what you think” without actually saying it
between Rimac’s EV tech, Cosworth’s engine tech and Bugatti’s chassis / design / interior expertise Mate has everything he needs to build world class hypercars without VW
at the time i wrote VW was wise to bring in fresh blood but i was wrong because they got more than they bargained for LOL
as for profitability i doubt Bugatti was making much if any money but that isn’t the point.
Bugatti was the halo brand that made every VW instantly more prestigious than any car that wasn’t part of VW group
i remember getting a Passat the year it received Motortrend car of the year award and the salesperson BSing me about how the 5 cylinder engine is from the Lambo etc. It was BS but there was also some truth to it as well because Lambos at the time used V10 engines and a 5 cylinder is basically half of a V10 and basically nobody else was using either five or 10 cylinder engines so you could argue some shared heritage was there …
likewise at the time Audis and Bentleys were using W12 engines that shared the tech with the W16 in Bugatti ( no other automaker had W engines ) so you could be driving a lowly Bentley ( LOL ) and feel spiritual connection to Bugatti …
now it’s over.
now instantly every VW group product is somehow more pedestrian and has lost a bit of that special-ness.
in fact now the highest end hypercars under VW umbrella are slower than Corvette ZR1X …
RIP VW Aura
As for Porsche’s EV push yes it was a miscalculation and it has backfired and cost Herbert Diess his job as CEO of VW group …
I remember Diess was friends with Elon Musk and Elon test driving VW ID.3 with Diess in the car - good times …
So miscalculation yes, but i wouldn’t call it “idiotic” …
I remember VW saying they were under tremendous pressure from capital to enter the EV rat race. at the time everybody was laughing at Mercedes for selling their Tesla stake which exponentially increased in value since Mercedes sold it and so on …
Also Porsche was known for cutting edge tech and was rapidly losing the perception of being innovation leader to Tesla almost to the point of becoming the butt of jokes when Model X raced a 911 while towing a 911 on a trailer - remember that ?
Porsche had no choice but to answer somehow.
there was also the whole Dieselgate fiasco where VW was ordered to build Electrify America and so on …
basically their hand was forced …
and in the long run it may not be so bad or their fault.
yes Taycan is fading into the background but the new Cayenne EV is getting rave reviews and now that Model X is discontinued it has no natural competition.
when Ferrari was asked why Luce they said their analysis showed EV sports cars made no sense but EV SUV made a LOT of sense. i think Porsche has discovered this as well, and so did Tesla and everybody else.
remember Tesla Roadster is DEAD. Taycan is practically dead. 718 EV keeps getting delayed, but Cayenne EV, as i said, every automotive reviewer is raving about right now.
so it’s not all bad …
the real problem Porsche has is not so much electrification but Geopolitics …
the main markets are US, EU and China and they are very different …
US: no EV incentives, huge tariffs
China: massive EV incentives but impossible to compete with domestic offerings.
EU: massive EV incentives but broke population due to socialism and high energy costs that can’t afford to buy anything
these things were not Porsche’s fault. yes if they were geniuses maybe they could have prepared for this somehow but just because they didn’t doesn’t mean they were idiots - they just made a mistake.
most Automakers got screwed in that era … only Toyota / Lexus came out completely unscathed
i guess your word “idiotic” would be fair in describing the automotive industry in that era as a whole, but it would be unfair to single out Porsche for this …