Why I'm Glad All Porsches Look The Same

Porsche recently launched the "all-new" 2012 Porsche 911 and more recently the "all-new" 2012 Porsche Boxster. But it seems both of these cars look totally like the previous models they replaced, and I'm sure that if you told a 15-year-old nonchalent teen or a pretty 25-year-old girl from Essex that these are brand new models, they'd probably say you're telling porkies. The reason is that Porsche undeniably look similar to one another. You can clearly see the DNA of the first Porsche, the 356 in the current 911, Cayenne, Boxster, Cayman and the Panamera. You also saw the same basic styling in discontinued models like the 968 and the 928 too.

The original Porsche 356 gave birth to all of them from its tiny, tiny tailpipes and there's a running joke amongst motor hacks that Porsche employ a bunch of lazy designers that use the same template for all Porsches they churn out of the factor. Note that Porsches have the same frog-like rounded front and rounded rear. You could clearly tell that the Cayenne is an SUV or that the Panamera is a 4 door sedan, but because they have the same basic design cues, any car clueless person would be able to recognise that the car is a Porsche.

But if you really think about it, isn't this a good thing?

You see it wasn't as if Porsche didn't want to change. A while back in the era of bell bottoms, side burns and Farah Fawcett, Porsche tried to change its designs by coming up with 911 replacement models for the lower end and upper end of the markets. Porsche brought out cars like the 924, 944, 968 and the 928 (above). These sprung from the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s and Porsche did achieve some success. But none of those models, no matter how good they were, could ever usurp the sales of the mighty 911.

People continued buying 911s regardless of the fact that its rear-engined design meant that it was apparently flawed. It was a tail happy mongrel and loved putting itself and the driver through hedges and ditch. Most of the time it went backwards into them due to its inherent design characteristics (or flaws) of having the engine hanging out of its arse.

Now we have to note that the same people who bought the 911 must have also tried the front-engined and more luxurious 928 in the showrooms but even they still bought the "flawed" car that actually looked like a toad from some unflattering angles. Porsche consumers loved the slightly bulbous shape of the 911 and the sound of the flat 6 engine so much that they refused to change their minds and purchase what even Porsche thought was the better car at the time.

Unfortunately that led to the 928 and the lesser 968 (which was the final version of the 924/944 series) to be discontinued. Porsche then launched the Boxster as a replacement for the 968. This was mid-engined but it looked very much like its big brother and was an instant sales success. Porsche fans took to it like a duck to water and it became Porsche's success story. Or maybe Porsche sports car customers only like mid/rear engines?

Porsche's car lineup then expanded to include an SUV. Incredible, a Porsche Jeep! In not so many words. The extremely successful Porsche Cayenne SUV (below) is actually awkward to look at but somehow managed to capture the hearts and souls of people who were never even fans of the 911 in the first place. This success story has since continued with the Panamera. Some critics say the cars looks ugly as heck, or lazily designed as they all look the same. But some of you Car Throttlers actually think that the Porsche design is a design classic. Its design clues are so recognizable that even a person who does not like cars will recognise a Porsche when they see one. And I have to repeat, isn't that a very good thing?

You see, Porsche has done a Coca Cola, a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck and a Rolex. It has become a design icon. None of the items mentioned above has changed much over the years. Every few years Coca Cola, Mont Blanc or Rolex will spruce their products up a little by rounding off an edge or two or making it slightly chunkier or slimmer (depending on the tastes of that decade). But the over-riding design styles remain.

The Porsche silhouette is already considered a classic in automotive design. Humanity has basically decided that these style designs have reached a pinnacle that cannot be altered but merely refined bit by bit in accordance with the taste of the period. Remember, Porsche have already tried and failed. So if it ain't broken now, why fix or change it?

And so Porsche had basically decided to evolve slowly and not make drastic changes over the years. They only slightly alter the design of the car a little year after year. In the 2012 Porsche 911 (above) the engine is still in the wrong place but the suspension has been improved so much so that this 911 can bend the laws of physics and possibly the space-time continuum - even the base model is now as fast as a GT3 round the Nurburgring. And if it does break away, the tail slides progressively and it won't kill its owner or hurt his ego too badly. This is the same with the the newly launched Boxster. Much has changed on the inside, but not a great deal on the outside. And I'm glad.

I rest my case, your honour.