Kain

They say Porsche is one of the most, if not the most, profitable car companies. But, how do they manage to match or exceed the performance of Ferraris costing double while being more profitable?

skup

One word. Options!

Manifold

Lack of competition. Porsche is a step above Benz, BMW, and Audi, and those companies don't offer much in terms of real trackworthy sports cars. Ferrari, McLaren, Lambo, etc. are far more expensive and low volume. So that leaves Porsche to clean up in the middle ground.

Drifting

What I don't get is if Porsche is one of the most profitable car companies in the world, why did they have to start selling SUVs to survive? (or so the story goes)

Jamie140

Volume X margin.

tmg57

Amen to that. I drove a diesel cayenne recently and was impressed. At $56,600 base it looked like a good deal but I got on the configurator and, without going crazy, the price got to 80k about as fast as a Turbo S gets to 60MPH.

DrJay

NO kidding, I did the same thing!

Leigh2

Well the other player in this sandbox is the Corvette, at half the price of a GT3. I doubt the production costs are much different....
Even if you look at the diesel Cayenne at $56k base price, it is much larger, 4WD, diesel engines aren't cheap, twice the interior space, same paint, how can the GT3 cost an extra $100k???
Explains the profitability....

frayed

LOL. So true.

Mike in CA

That's easy. Porsche is very profitable now BECAUSE it's selling SUV's and sedans. It's not a story; Porsche was struggling in the later years before they began to include SUV's in their product line. All of their cars have high profit margins, and when you can expand your appeal to a broader market segment and more than double sales by introducing new models, profits will go up.

MaxLTV

Off-topic, but if you like options, do what I did (I do like options in a long-drive car). A 2 year-old certified Turbo is awesome value in Caynnes - options add very little to the price at this point, and so you can get a Turbo with 4 years of remaining warranty and every meaningful option added for a price just a bit over that of a base Cayenne S. And it drives really well with air suspension and PDCC (a must on SUV, IMO), plus with Burmester I do not mind if a drive is taking a bit longer

CAlexio

Buying slightly used is always the answer IMO. You skip the steep part of the depreciation curve and enjoy the same experience as a new car owner.

I do hope the gt3 provides the exception to this rule as it's the first new car, and the first $100k+ I've ever allowed myself to purchase.

silverrules

Alex, I agree thats the best if you can wait for couple yrs until these cars become available. I purchased my 2010 GT3 with 8K miles for $106K 2 yrs ago and I can turn around and sell it for same price after two years of pure enjoyment, but I won't until the 991 comes in and if I find out the 997 is no longer needed. The dealer want is bad.

Machog

Calexico is right. Slightly used is the way to go, or has always been from me.

My new car listed out around $60k beginning of 2012, in a year and half its lost about $20k, my price was under $40k, I bet it won't loose too much more for a while.

2011 base Cayman, 2.5 year factory warranty left, 19k miles, PDK with paddles, leather, 18" wheels, other goodies.

I never thought I'd be able to afford a nice 'like new' Porsche, true I've been looking for 6 months or so, well worth the wait.

Machog

CAlexio

I guess I meant to imply, that with my wishful thinking this car WONT suffer the same steep type of new car depreciation, but instead enjoy a more linear curve. I know we've covered this before, but if you look at '10-'11 gt3 cars, they haven't dropped much in price. as I am one of those concerned with resale value, I hope that my $145k purchase shouldn't drop more than about $10k/yr with low mileage and good care taking.

Realistic to think that I could sell a 10,000 miles $145k 2014 gt3 in 2016 for $125k?