Nissan VS Porsche
25th April 2009
I’ve been following this feud since it began at the Nurburgring last year. Nissan’s new GTR beat Porsche’s 911 Turbo’s lap time, which is hugely impressive for any car to do, let alone a Nissan. Porsche acted like brats, frankly. They accused Nissan of running the GTR on race-spec tyres, and even went as far as buying a GTR themselves and trying to achieve a similar lap time. They claimed to be 50 seconds off, and basically accused Nissan of lying. Nissan responded with photographs, video evidence and so on supporting their case, as well as offering Porsche special driving lessons for the GTR. That last one couldn’t have gone down well!
Anyway, as you can imagine the two companies haven’t exactly seen eye-to-eye since, and Nissan has since gone as far as to declare Porsche their main rival. This became apparent when Nissan unveiled their successor to the 350Z, the 370Z. At the press launch, Nissan also put a Porsche Cayman on the stand and said “This is the car we set out to beat when we designed and built the 370Z”.
As an aside, this rivalry is dangerous for both manufacturers. It’s dangerous for Porsche because they’re a very up-market brand that is comparitively quite small. Nissan on the other hand is one of the biggest car firms in the world, producing what we’d consider to be common, everyday vehicles. Furthermore Nissan’s home country (Japan) is the spiritual home of car modifications, tune-ups and generally making a normal car eat supercars for breakfast. Porsche could be biting off more than they can chew, against a company with a far bigger budget and more tuning experience.
Conversely, Porsche’s cars are famous for their performance. A Porsche’s balance of handling and power is deemed by many to be unmatched by any other car. Add to the fact that none of their cars are built on a budget, and you’ve got cars that will not only thrash anything cheaper than them, but will all too often eat cars with much higher retail prices. Nissan could appear to be a bit like that short, cocky little bugger you find in a pub; always trying to pick fights with the bigger lads because he feels he has something to prove.
However Nissan has been trying to go more up-market ever since they made their new line of 4×4s, and would inevitably end up trespassing on Porsche territory. This fight was therefore inevitable. So round 2: 370Z VS Cayman
The first thing you notice with the new 370Z is that they’re really trying hard and have paid a lot of attention to detail. The roof line and other styling cues are based on their GTR, which is a good thing since that car was aerodynamically designed for maximum stability. Also, gone are the swathes of cheap plastic interiors. The 370Z sports hand-stitched leather, alcantara door trim, aluminium trim here and there and supportive leather sport seats, all in a bid to match Porsche in more than just the performance stakes.You could be forgiven for forgetting you’re in a Japanese car.
As for performance? Well I personally can’t talk about it as i’ve yet to drive either cars, yet many sources say that whilst the base-model Cayman is £10k more, it’s worth that much more if not more still when you take both cars out onto a winding backroad. The Cayman gives you the signature Porsche handling, sticking to the road on corners you wouldn’t expect it to. Meanwhile the Nissan’s more aggressive. The handling is impressive, but not in Porsche territory just yet. It’s a successor to the 350Z in the sense that it handles very similar, only without sticking the tail out quite as much. It grips more and drifts less, but it’s not perfect and it doesn’t beat the Porsche. It’s got a ways to go.
Also there’s the issue of badging. A Porsche badge brings with it a sense of respect from all petrolheads. Love them or hate them, all petrolheads acknowledge Porsches to be good, fast, up-market cars. The same can’t be said for Nissan. So in order for Nissan to erase the appeal of the badge, they can’t price their car at just £10k lower than the Cayman. Many people will happily pay the extra £10k for the reassurance of a brilliant, widely respected car with a quality and feel that’s rarely matched, rather than risk going for a Nissan just because a few journalists and Nissan bosses say it’s just as good. They need to come in at about £15k less. If the Cayman is £40,000, sell the 370Z for £25k.
The problem is this: In terms of performance, Nissan has already made some iconic cars. The Nissan Skyline GTR for example. Being upmarket therefore isn’t a case of putting your prices up, it’s about putting the quality up. If Nissan wants to beat Porsche, they need to keep their prices at Nissan prices, but raise their overall quality to Porsche standards. You beat a famous and respected brand by beating better than them, not by being equal, or aiming to be.
Give it a few years. Nissan’s prices tend to drop much faster than Porsche’s. Come back in two, maybe three years time and we’ll have this fight again.
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