Drifting

Agree with this. Why would Porsche not increase GT3 production numbers if they announce a new GT3 variant that would increase demand?

Regarding LWB, unlike the 911R, I expect that >80% of GT3 touring customers will order their cars without LWB, as its not a track car like a winged GT3 or a slave to weight like the 911R.

So LWB production shouldn't limit GT3 touring production. I fully expect Porsche to produce more GT3s overall due to some of them being touring.

misterwaterfall

I just don't understand the LWB excuse though. If you're the owner of the company that makes them, and Porsche asks for an extra allotment, you'll make them. What's the downside for Porsche? Sitting of a few pairs as inventory or something? At this point, they are producing GT cars almost all of the time, so it's not like they would sit for long.

boxer-11

I could imagine a discussion about the touring package going like this: hey we have a reasonable volume of feedback asking for a GT 911 for the street (aka wingless GT3). A lot of our competitors seem to have abandoned "purist" drivers' cars for the street...perhaps there's a gap in the market we can exploit there. It would be a relatively cheap way to test the strength of that demand by making it an option for the .2 GT3 and then use that to watch the take-rate across the set of .2 GT3's we plan to make. Depending on that take-rate, it might make sense in the 992 generation to break this out as a separate manual model with more differentiated specs and more options.

In other words, I can easily imagine that there's a longer term model range strategy in play and that the package approach without changing the number of current cars is merely a stepping stone implemented in a manner with one eye on cost management and one on making [some] customers happy.

evilfij

Success of 911R and that the wing is undoubtedly a cost and likely a choke point in production (like LWBs) and touring siphons off some PTS.

It is precisely what I wanted (if you dig back through my posts you will see I hate alcantara, love leather, and hate deviated stitching and disliked the wing and love chrome trim).

The chrome trim would look stunning in green, but alas, black is good enough for me. I am very thankful to my dealer and exclusive for the support in the process. It has gone so well I am sure once my color is approved I will get another 911.

Bartleby7334

Those carbon fiber wings are hand built I believe. If Porsche wants to reduce unit costs on the Manual transmission by increasing volume production of that part, the Touring kills two birds with one stone. And by charging the same price profit goes up AND production bottlenecks can be ameliorated.

Win for Porsche, and win for us.

superchargedman

Given the development and parts for the new front and rear lip spoilers, the new decklid, the ECU remapping, and the new interior changes, I'm not so sure this is profitable in the end for Porsche.

Drifting

"Russians don't take a dump without a plan", and that goes double for Germans. It doesn't take that much effort to slightly modify the spoilers and add the deck lid which is very similar to other 911 variants.

I'm sure Porsche is still making plenty of profit on each of these 150K + sports cars.

mooty

amateur...
my first day out in 997 cup, no abs.
FIVE SETS of $2700 michelins got flat spotted.
hit a well (lightly), new right fender, new bumper, new radiator

i LEARNED HOW TO DRIVE NON ABS REALLY QUICK AFTER THAT BIG CHECK

sechsgang

I mean at least you didn't cook a trans day 1...PLENTY of people were paying for box rebuilds haha

C.J. Ichiban

Guys in reference to LWB shortage/ you clearly have short memories of the Cayman GT4 and GT3 from 2014-2015:

Guys ORDERED LWB and porsche sent cars without them. Froze builds etc. Happened to a lot of people. And that was at the beginning of the product cycle.

Another factor - deviated stitching. That means some poor lady has to stitch your seats with chalk stitching instead of GT silver and god forbid she screwed it up.

evilfij

Deviated stitching is near zero cost (2 minutes to change a bobbin) and whether the original bobbin is black or platinum should not make much of a difference. The $3500 for deviated is almost all profit.

Just in time

The real question is whether Porsche will increase GT2/3 production.

If they do, it definitely will dilute the brand. Something Porsche might not be willing to accept.

If production is not increased, then there may be some crazy price gyrations. Since some will opt for the wingless version, there will be less winged ones, all of which would have been sold anyway. Track Meisters may wind up w/o a winged allocation and desperate for one. That will drive up the value of the winged ones. On the other hand, the wingless ones will become a Giffen good for the GT3R (or at least a Veblen good).

If Porsche does not increase production all it is trying to do IMHO is setting up the market for a price rise. I would assume that the aggregate demand for both cars will exceed the demand for the original winged one. Since the 991.1 version fully sold, then prices must rise. As someone said a big middle finger for the aficionados. If market conditions remain similar watch for the 992 GT3 with a sharply higher MSRP.

Maybe Porsche is just trying to cash in the short term and help replenish VAGs coffers. I have not seen any announcements that GT2/3 production capacity has been expanded, although it seems to have been quietly so in the last couple of years. Initially capacity was pegged at 2500/yr, now it seems closer to 4000-5000 annually. If every car PAG produced were a GT2/3 "exclusivity" will be perceived as having dusappeared and I have no doubt some of our buyers will go shopping elsewhere.

I am going to sit and watch this one carefully. Actually this could make a very good case for business school.

I do somehow agree with an earlier poster that posits these cars may branch off in two different directions with the 992.

Norcalgt3

with respect to the gt4, Porsche at least offered the ability to order cars with sofa seats during the Lwb shortage. They could easily do the same with the gt3. Gt3 with sofa would be better than no gt3. Those that must have lwb can then take it or leave it.

Norcalgt3

having gone to stanford gsb, the current Porsche gt business model makes no sense. Typically companies induce demand and exclusivity to increase sales velocity. In this case, demand is many multiples of supply (at this juncture anyways - I suspect they will right size the ship soon). Porsche is thereby only helping the secondary market and not increasing their own profits The only way their approach has helped has come with margins via the increased msrp which is offset by the r&d costs anyways. This in turn is frustrating some buyers to turn to competitors - a contrapositive effect. Porsche in the end has plenty of room to grow in the GT market. They certainty don't need to cater to those who primarily only care about depreciation values as shown with the R. They are still finding the way it seems after joining VAG, much like with their first foray into the super car territory with the 918 where they had to offer the VIP program as an incentive to move cars to compete with Ferrari.

Just in time

I would very much agree that this will help the secondary market. Porsche however is also taking bites out of the price rise like for example PTS which is nearly double what is was before.