Monday, December 7, 2009 |
14:02 - That's why they get paid the big bucks
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Physically, geometrically, by the numbers—it's such a subtle difference, isn't it?
Porsche Panamera:
Aston Martin Rapide:
And yet one is so dramatically, immediately more visually pleasing.
I mean, hey, let's not mince words. Next to the Rapide, the Panamera looks like an Eastern Bloc prison bus. And based on what? The cornery-versus-blobby design of the rear side windows and C-pillar? The slope of the Kamm back? The crease in the front flanks? The rake of the windshield? On paper you'd never be able to calculate beauty from the minute way the measurements vary. But once you see it in the flesh, it's the difference between an artistic triumph and a damned embarrassment.
The Aston is considerably more expensive than the Panamera, but price is hardly likely to be the big differentiator in this part of the market. I'd say Porsche is about to get its lunch eaten in a big way.
It's just as well, perhaps, that Porsche's power play for VW failed in such operatic fashion, since the fallout appears to mean the Cayenne and Panamera will both be killed off (new as the latter is) in favor of more pure sports cars and GTs. If this is what having a "car guy" (Piëch) in charge of VW entails, think what the US car industry could have been like under the same sort of tutelage...
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