For every Porsche made and sold last year, Volkswagen Group pocketed $23,200 (€16,800) in profit for a margin of 18%. Since that's more than four times what Audi gets per car, you'd be forgiven for thinking that incredible attention to detail is payed, that every button, switch or knob is made with an ungodly attention to detail and the precision no other automaker can even understand. But no, Porsches are just cars, and they break down just like any others. This one thing… is a little bit different, as just about everything about it seems to be broken.
Say hello to Nick Murray, a New Zealander who lives in America and loves the 911. He loves it so much, in fact, that he worked long and hard to earn enough money and order a beautiful Carrera S. Naturally, he believed that something costing him $100,000 (€72,400) before options would be perfect, but it's the exact opposite of that.
Shortly after delivery, his brand new sportscar started having really serious problems, one after the other. Smoke came out the doors, a sign of short circuiting, the side mirrors dipped for no reason and eventually the who interior became flooded because the windows go down on their own. On the highway, it even broke down completely, cutting power from the engine and locking the gearbox.
That last one sounds particularly scary, doesn't it? Of course the car is under warranty, so Porsche tries to fix it, but with over 60 days of service time already, it's pretty much a worthless malfunctioning piece of German junk. Give this guy a lemon lawyer!
And get this, instead of buying back their junker, Porsche North America are offering Nick "Packages", a really bad management decision if you ask us, especially if this story blows up on the internet.
When we tested the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabrio, we experienced serious problems of our own, with large quantities of water coming in through the convertible roof's seal at the upper part of the side windows.
Maybe Martin Winterkorn should worry less about Porsche's sales growth and more about customer satisfaction. If too many potential owners see this next video and how Nick is treated, irreparable damage to their brand will be sustained.
Update: After heavy Internet pressure, Porsche North America is replacing Nick's 911 with a new one. Nonetheless, the big picture isn't all that simple.
Shortly after delivery, his brand new sportscar started having really serious problems, one after the other. Smoke came out the doors, a sign of short circuiting, the side mirrors dipped for no reason and eventually the who interior became flooded because the windows go down on their own. On the highway, it even broke down completely, cutting power from the engine and locking the gearbox.
That last one sounds particularly scary, doesn't it? Of course the car is under warranty, so Porsche tries to fix it, but with over 60 days of service time already, it's pretty much a worthless malfunctioning piece of German junk. Give this guy a lemon lawyer!
And get this, instead of buying back their junker, Porsche North America are offering Nick "Packages", a really bad management decision if you ask us, especially if this story blows up on the internet.
When we tested the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabrio, we experienced serious problems of our own, with large quantities of water coming in through the convertible roof's seal at the upper part of the side windows.
Maybe Martin Winterkorn should worry less about Porsche's sales growth and more about customer satisfaction. If too many potential owners see this next video and how Nick is treated, irreparable damage to their brand will be sustained.
Update: After heavy Internet pressure, Porsche North America is replacing Nick's 911 with a new one. Nonetheless, the big picture isn't all that simple.