Porsche is not only good at calculating engineering mathematics, but also calculating market positioning. Take the 911 family as an example, there are many versions in different price levels, from Carrera, 4S, Turbo to GT2. Porsche knows when somebody pay 60,000 pounds to buy a Carrera, he does not want to have a car seen as "bottom of the range". In other words, he expects his car to be the best of its kind rather than a cheaper version of 911 Turbo.  

Therefore Porsche gave these cars different characters so that no one is clearly inferior or superior to another. Although Carrera is slower than Turbo, it is lighter and its normally aspirated engine sounds more characterful, hence feeling purer in sporting nature. The 4S might seem better than the Carrera because of its better look, but Carrera men knows it is actually slower than theirs. Similarly, GT2 is quicker than the Turbo but neither as beautiful nor as good to handle. Such clever market positioning makes every customers happy and proud of their purchase.  

However, there is one exception - GT3, which is clearly the best 996 of all. Its existence might cause big chaos to the company’s marketing policy. Now I know why it had to be a limited edition and was terminated early. This is quite ridiculous - the GT3 was killed because it was too good.

Mark Wan