...who care about Porsche's performance only in name, and that it was what provided Porsche its cachet to begin with.

Bitt, you never fail to impress me. That is an excellent and concise argument.

However, I think that the Corvette vs Suburban argument might hold even in the face of your logic. People don't stop buying Corvettes because they're made by the same company that builds trucks; nor do people buy (or not buy) Suburbans because they're made by the same company that builds sports cars.

I believe that Porsche's cachet is large enough to encompass both sports cars and trucks without dilution. Porsche sports cars will still be world class machines, and the fact that their truck is (as of now, anyway) uncontestably the best damn truck in the world can't hurt.

tanstaafl.