[LeonOfTheDead]

there are so many aspects involving what define a car maker, a brand, that is actually difficult even to talk about one without simply listing its story and facts as many books did, let alone comparing to such made names.

from an amount of point of view, I could love or hate both of those.

starting with simplicity, Porsche introduced an idea of an affordable sports car, flooding the world with about 60.000 units just of the first 356. despite giving excellent performance, it was relatively cheap, and even simple, relying on VW parts.
it was a revolution, acting at millions miles of distance from the high end and hand grafted and bodied cars build in Modena, for example.
I should love Porsche just for this reason, it gave us a car we can actually dream of.
wait...or should I hate it for this very reason? after all, the world is flooded by classless owners of 911 too, giving them not only the sports car, but also the idea that even the exclusivity and a place in the first class was on sale with the car.

but on the other hand, Ferrari gave us a car we could struggle to find a way to won it for our entire lives, something so far from us, sometimes we find out we are disliking it. and at the same time, those who can afford it, became more spoiled, convinced to be the creme de la creme, just because of the badge. but, this exclusivity, carried over also some works of art, some jewels we wouldn't even have imagined, creating an image lasting since 60 years in a way probably all the other automakers can only dream of, as we dream of those red cars.
I find an almost-selfish form of expression, being a car or a portrait, the best ispiring, bringing your focus directly to the point of the matter, without any influence, trade off, or whatsoever external factor, like production issues, safety regulations and a wide portfolio of owners.
so props to both from this point of view, which means, generally, I would really like, even with a relatively small quantity of money, to buy a first gn 911, like the one driven by Robert Redford in spy Games, and I would love the feeling of being a part, one of the fundamental ones, of a history started a long time ago and evolving into a myth.
but on the other hand, we have the possibility to spend tons of money on a car, and it's probably going to be a Ferrari, even more, a custom made one, perhaps, even base don my specific requests, a la P4/5.
seriously, thinking to involve a car in such a program, an the mind immediately goes to a Ferrari, it's probably rare to come out with the idea of a rebodied 911.
this lead to some other aspects, first of all, Porsche seems to be recognized, at least at first glance, by only one car, the 991. second, when I say custom made Ferrari we think at a specific example of the 250 GT California for instance, or to the aforementioned P4/5, while saying a rebodied Porsche leads to the garage of TechArt, 9ff and the likes. two completely different worlds.
finally, I found out I'm talking about the modern era, which leads me to consider the mass car producer Porsche became, with over 100.000 units a year, cars and engines based on VW products, and owning VAG too, and the growing reality Ferrari is, with almost 7.000 cars sold this year, the new California set to raise that figure to almsot 10.000 (if the economy stands up), and the Maserati brand under its protection, together with some spin-off project from Alfa Romeo, even if not officially, while trying to reduce costs using Fiat's technology.

I can't like Porsche thinking to what they did to survive. if we are screaming at a lost of the soul for modern Ferrari, what about the Cayenne? it's not a Porsche product, it doesn't use Porsche's engines, it isn't something you would have asked to Porsche ten years ago also, but as stated somewhere else, by the idea we are not choosing the product, the market offers it to us, here we go with the SUV.
Porsche not only recovered itself, but it grown so much, now it has to face rules bigger and much less exotic brands are supposed to, being also rumored to produce smaller products to pull down the emissions of the whole brand and so on.
another important thing to say, while these cars, being the Suv or the usual 911, drive well and go fast, they are ugly too, even tasteless in some aspects.
The new Panamera just underlines the fact a car doesn't need to be good looking it the true sense of the words, but just refined, showy, uniformed with the market and not personal. I see it as an inform mass of metal, as the Cayenne too.
The Cayman/Boxter are the best looking, in the Porsche family, but they also stand for a kind of customer quite similar to that of a Cayenne, just in beach style.

is Ferrari in a better position?
with the Enzo/MC12 and their para-racing editions they demonstrated they lack of ideas any now and then. also, the relationships between the two companies never worked completely. Maserati is back in black (ink), but their offices are full just of Ferrari's heads even now that the two are supposedly separated. Still they gifted us with some astonishing creations, as the Granturismo or the 8C dynamic duo.
they are not the best handling cars, nor the most advanced and so on, but they are beautiful, and that's something I can live with. actually, I never pretended them to be the performer some wanted. I can0t imagine a Maserati or 8C customer going to track days as if it drove a GT3. Some for the DBS, also.
considering directly Ferrari, it's latest design theme doesn't completely work for me, it lacks of details, or at least it seems to me it makes the cars look as if they were built out of a single piece. Not an informed one as in the case of the Panamera, but at the same time refined and detailed just on the surface. as if the technology talking under the skin was enough.
it isn't. that's why Porsche kept winning coty awards with a quite simple concept as the GT3/RS duo. because it was something more communicative, more immediate and also controllable by the driver, like if he was a part of the car, not just the driver, or the operator pushing a series if buttons.
Ferrari is failing at this maybe, involving the driver in the drive, making him the subject of the drive, not the object.

I could go on, but here it's late, and I'm tired.
cheers.