mdrums

Yup!...great cars too...

ExMB

You are forgetting that BMW has a VIP program just like Porsche. Are you going to declare them both illegal?

mchrono

Glad to see those BMW dealers are falling into line:



http://autoweek.com/article/wait-the...djustment-100k

fuddman

Your right and I was wrong.

I reviewed the BMW M4 GTS invitation and, contrary to what I said, it did not specify a price for the car. In fact, it went so far as saying, in very small print, the price was to be established by the dealer. But, you could buy the car at whatever dealer you wanted.

What the invitation cars were actually sold for is unclear. Apparently, though, BMW wanted to stay within the law as you've explained it.

mdrums

VIP program or whatever has NOTHING to do with this....a Porsche dealer can sell a product (1 on 1 negotiations in person, on phone, in email) for whatever they want to.

A manufacture can not tell a dealer what to sell something for. They can say what it can be advertised for but not what it is sold for...very illegal in the USA. That is price fixing, anti trust collision and all. I deal with this a lot in my business as a manufacture rep selling to dealers/stores. I've had more coaching with attorneys than I need on this.

So maybe you all are not getting it...and I'd think there would be some very astute business people here...maybe not...but...

Example: you own a store...

you are authorized to buy and sell a manufactures product.

Signed dealer agreements and all.

You order the product...pay for it or it's on a payment plan...

There is a MSRP (manufacture SUGGESTED retail price) Suggested is the key and legal word here...

someone walks in to by the product...you can legally sell it for a $1 if you want...or you can sell it well over MSRP...there is NOTHING LEGALLY the manufacture can do about it.

You just can't advertise it lower than a price the manufacture sets forth...that is the MAP (minimum advertised price) law if a manufacture has MAP on it's products.

hf1

Sure, just allow the manufacturer to ALSO be able to sell his product directly to customers and he could care less what prices dealers slap on his product. Live and let live, free markets, and all that jazz... Porsche tried it and failed -- the racket won.

mdrums

Fender guitars is trying this now...selling Custom Shop guitars direct to consumers on line.

MaxLTV

Exactly. Also Porsche + Amazon Prime would be a match made in heaven.

ipse dixit

Can you imagine how much higher GT car prices would be if the only dealer in the U.S. was Porsche?

At least now we can go to supposedly "good" dealers like Sonnen versus supposedly "bad" dealers like AutoGallery and at least in theory there would be a competitive landscape.

If there was a complete, perfect monopoly, then what? If you wanted a GT3, and Porsche decided to sell all GT3s at 500k, what would members like usctrojanGT3 do? There'd be no one to bash -- there'd be no "stealerships" or perhaps everyone would be a "stealership."

How fun would that be? This forum might die and wither on the vine.

(And lets not forget, there are some of us here who buy regular 911s, or 911 Turbos, or (gasp!) a Panamera. Imagine buying all of those cars at whatever price Porsche set without any ability to bargain or negotiate? Not even for a free keychain or clear LED sidemarkers?)

#PassNoThankYou

mooty

i like the discussion but it's really pointless
u cannot control. pricing.
flipping
etc
there is NO way to do that. even death penalty wont stop it.
why do you think drug, weapons, sex dealer still around? this is the same thing. u cannot stop it but it is nevertheless fun to chew the fat.

Metzeger

Love it in black and lava

hf1

1. Strawman. No one proposed that Porsche is the only Porsche dealer -- just that Porsche is ALSO allowed to sell its wares alongside the dealers.

Now let's assume that Porsche IS the only Porsche dealer...

2. You have a funny understanding of a ("complete, perfect"!) monopoly. According to you anyone choosing to sell directly to customers, without dealers and intermediaries is a "complete, perfect" monopolist. He must be forced to sell through dealers (and dealers only!) to make the market "free" again.

3. Even if Porsche was the only Porsche dealer, the only "free market" it would (and could) "monopolize" would be the "market" for juice above invoice each dealer manages to extract/charge. All of them still have to get their cars from the same source at pretty much the same price (invoice).

4. You seem to have this idea that it's the dealers that are keeping Porsche prices in check. Without them, Porsche could charge $1mil for its cars and we'd be all screwed -- Porsche would "monopolize" the Porsche market? Fine, then watch how many cars it manages to sell and how the sales of other sports cars go through the roof, dealers or not.

hf1

"Flipping" (buying and selling) is not and should not be illegal. The profit margins for flippers are directly proportional to the superior access they have to the flipped goods vs everyone else. Open up the market, allow access to any willing buyer/bidder and the flipping margins will evaporate taking the flippers along.

Nizer

oldie but a goodie. btw, that's guards red in the video not lava.

here are a few more:

mdrums

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