

| Subject: | Re: no VW sports cars? |
| From: | don spence |
| Date: | Fri, 28 May 2004 15:04:04 -0600 |
Actually Bruce, there were two 914's. A VW one with a 4 banger and a Porsche one with 6 cylinders. Very different animals. It don't matter who sold them on your block. VW-Audi built them out of VW bits. (except for the Porsche 6 engine) 1969 The mid-engined sports car, VW Porsche 914, was launched on the world's markets in a marketing cooperative with the Volkswagen factory. It was joined by the Type 914/6 with 911 engine. Badged as a VW-Porsche, the 914 probably did more for the reputation of VW, than that of Porsche; and the former went on to develop the Golf GTi, while the latter struggled for survival. 914 At the same time Volkswagon needed a replacement for the Karmann Ghia. The solution to both firms was the 914. In Europe, the four-cylinder 914 was sold by a new joint marketing effort called VW-Porsche. The mandate of VW-Porsche was to build vehicles out of VW components. In the States, the 914-4 was marketed as a Porsche. (World-wide, the 914-6 was marketed as a Porsche.) Controversy ensued. Even with the controversy, the 914 was a successful venture (made big bucks). A successor was asked for. Work commenced in 1972, sponsored by VW-Porsche. Then there was a management change at VW, and the whole concept of VW-Porsche was history. It was then thought to make the car into what-would-have-been the predecessor to the Audi Coupe. Then there was another management change at VW, and the project was killed. It was almost complete, though, and Porsche really wanted a 914 successor, so Porsche proposed to buy back the design from VW-Audi at bargain basement prices. VW-Audi agreed. The car would continue to be built as planned at the Audi plant in Neckarsulm, and most of the parts came from VW-Audi bins. Work immediately started on making the car more "Porsche." On Friday, May 28, 2004, at 01:57 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote: > From: Bruce Nadig <motorbruce@HOTMAIL.COM> > Subject: Re: no VW sports cars? > > Sorry, gotta step in here. The 914, while sold in Europe as a VW, was a > Porsche in the U.S. Only Porsche dealers sold them here. > > Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know it was a joint venture with Porsche, just > like the > Cayenne thing is. It hardly makes them the same animal. > > We live in the U.S. The 914 is a Porsche. > > By the way, I owned a 1990 G60 Corrado that was pretty hopped up. That > was > one wild ride it you really got on it. Damn, I wish I never sold that > car. > > Cheers, > Bruce > motorbruce
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