Why don’t Porsche build more GT cars?

[Esceptico]

Currently the demand for GT cars far outweighs supply. Normally a business faced with that scenario would either increase price until supply and demand were more in line or they would increase supply to meet the demand. Porsche seems to do neither. Why? With their current practice they are losing out on profit (and quite large sums as every extra pound of revenue would be pure profit if they make money at the current price) whilst simultaneously pissing off loyal customers who miss out on getting one. Seems a strange approach to me.

[2010spy]

Don’t worry, they are making a LOT more money as a result of having the limited supply HALO products that come out of the GT division. Rolex do the same and as a result Porsche and Rolex are VERY profitable.

[RankAmateur]

Much of the reason why so many people want GT cars is precisely because they are unavailable. This has the added flywheel effect of driving up residual values, so folks can look forward to free or bonus motoring, making the cars even more desirable. If you want to see what unrestricted supply would do to GT cars, look no further than the 911 Turbo models: zero hysteria, no crowds of fans clamouring for one at the dealers’ gates- and anyone who has bought one from new will tell you they lost a chunk of cash on them. Everyone is doing artificially restricted supply these days: Nike, Supreme, etc. All the same playbook.

[ab80]

RankAmateur said:

look no further than the 911 Turbo models: zero hysteria, no crowds of fans clamouring for one at the dealers’ gates- and anyone who has bought one from new will tell you they lost a chunk of cash on them.

Generally I agree with your post, but note that the Turbo (or at least the S) has very strong residuals, in % terms. I think that Porsche supply is generally constrained, the GT cars particularly so.

In any event, having belatedly realised that there is no amount of money that I can throw at Porsche in time to get a GT car before turbos come in, I’m off to McLaren for a test drive of a 570, and intend to put my name down for an AMG GT4 or whatever it is.

[hunter 66]

Funny I lost nearly 50% depreciation on my First new GT3 ........ and I was happy with that , did 27k miles in it , Ring a few times ...... gravel trap once .
The only change has been the "investment " culture .
If GT3 's still lost 50 % maybe there would be less interest and then they would not be able to sell them like it was many years ago .
Compared to say the initial GT3 , when numbers were truly limited by demand , there are a lot more cars being built now.
996 GT3 RS being the case , 1,600 odd cars ( not sure ), 160 to UK , 991 GT3RS 6,000 cars ...and still the 991.2 to come

[Cheib]

ab80 said:

Generally I agree with your post, but note that the Turbo (or at least the S) has very strong residuals, in % terms. I think that Porsche supply is generally constrained, the GT cars particularly so.

Supply is constrained for Porsche “sports cars” full stop...they make something like 30,000 911’s a year. Suspect they think the current market won’t last like most of us and with three to five years to build more factory capacity probably don’t fancy the risk!

Obviously the new Mission E factory is nearing completion so that may also have benefits for 911/Cayster production. I believe Cayenne production is moving to a exclusively VW Group factory so that may mean more production capacity elsewhere in the range.

[LaSource]

hunter 66 said:

Funny I lost nearly 50% depreciation on my First new GT3 ........ and I was happy with that , did 27k miles in it , Ring a few times ...... gravel trap once .
The only change has been the "investment " culture .
If GT3 's still lost 50 % maybe there would be less interest and then they would not be able to sell them like it was many years ago .
Compared to say the initial GT3 , when numbers were truly limited by demand , there are a lot more cars being built now.
996 GT3 RS being the case , 1,600 odd cars ( not sure ), 160 to UK , 991 GT3RS 6,000 cars ...and still the 991.2 to come

996 RS was allegedly about 682 worldwide. I say allegedly because a recent tech I spoke to suggested he could find only about 450 odd on Porsche’s VIN database.

Yes, a lot more being made now, and demand (for list cars) is higher still.

[RDMcG]

The 6RS was never marketed in North America so numbers were indeed limited. Already getting big prices.

When rhe 7.1RS came out and was sold in NA it sold quite quickly as no proper RS and been officially sold here since the earliest cars. .

Strangely , I had no dealer relationship at all not had had a Porsche for decades and swung a Viper RS , and subsequently the 7.2 and 991 models.

I don’t get the huge prices people pay for these things though am not interested in residuals. Just like the cars and enjoy driving them.

Will think about 992RS in the future, but at MSRP only.

[Esceptico]

2010spy said:

Don’t worry, they are making a LOT more money as a result of having the limited supply HALO products that come out of the GT division. Rolex do the same and as a result Porsche and Rolex are VERY profitable.

I don’t get that argument. Porsche makes most of its money selling Macans and Boxsters. Are those customers really impacted because they sell 300 rather than 1300 GT3s?

[DMC2]

I got a discount off my first GT3, 997.1.

GT cars are now pose accessories for many, an investment, rather than a weekend toy or track car. Works for Porsche as it bumps up prices of cars like the 981 GTS.

[wellzee]

Esceptico said:

I don’t get that argument. Porsche makes most of its money selling Macans and Boxsters. Are those customers really impacted because they sell 300 rather than 1300 GT3s?

Exactly - and to try and get GT car allocations lots of people buy the vanilla, high margin vehicles when they don’t necessarily want them. Not to mention that an allocation almost always comes with an agreement to return the car to the supplying OPC at list when you’re done with it - so Porsche take all the uplift there also.

[DMC2]

Buyers are more worried about the availability of yellow stitching than how it handles! Lol.

[2010spy]

Esceptico said:

I don’t get that argument. Porsche makes most of its money selling Macans and Boxsters. Are those customers really impacted because they sell 300 rather than 1300 GT3s?

It’s more subtle than that. It’s about creating a luxury brand and these Halo Cars add prestige to the whole brand, across the whole model range. That sells more cars. Try getting a new steel Rolex Daytona. Rolex could sell x10 the amount they make. They use the same principle of having an unobtainable’ product line to add mystique.

[AndrewD]

wellzee said:

Not to mention that an allocation almost always comes with an agreement to return the car to the supplying OPC at list when you’re done with it - so Porsche take all the uplift there also.

You know that for a fact?

[Koln-RS]

Getting the supply/demand ratio right is essential for luxury brands.

Porsche nearly did serious damage to their brand image in the past, when they kept building cars despite a cutback in consumer spending. Upsetting residuals and OPCs falling out of favour was a regular topic on these pages.

A lot more people will buy a Porsche if they are confident that residuals will be good, and the so called 'halo' GT products help to support the rest of the range. And, I guess the factory closure will also help in the short term.

[isaldiri]

It's more a UK thing though. In the continent it's much less of a problem getting a GT car, the flipside being that you have to pay a higher price due to the currency rates. There is a huge clamour to buy a GT car but at UK prices....which is entirely sensible as they are seen as free money. Bump up pricing to match europe and some of that froth here will disappear.

[wellzee]

AndrewD said:

You know that for a fact?

Yes

[Porsche911R]

AndrewD said:

You know that for a fact?

It happens, I did not even get list for my GT car.

You are in the lucky area of getting any car you want, not sure how, but for the rest of us it's daft games.

[Taffy66]

Porsche911R said:

It happens, I did not even get list for my GT car.

You are in the lucky area of getting any car you want, not sure how, but for the rest of us it's daft games.

I also had to promise to sell my GT4 to the dealer at list before they would even give me a GT3 allocation.

[aka_kerrly]

Surely this is an ironic topic as every other time Porsche release a non RS model everyone jumps on them saying they don't make proper sports cars as they are all too heavy/too many extras/ not focused enough or similar.