Carrera GT

I imagine it's model year slippage. I don't know how to really gauge its performance, but the interesting number for me is the growth at 30% for a brand making stuff out of iron and aluminum. Aside from their currency hedges, I imagine their commodities trading could be hugely profitable. So I wonder how much PAG is/was a car company and how much it's a trading firm. Certainly makes a good trade to short US makers and go long VW. : )

fer2367

I am surprised with some of the negative comments in this forum, not so much because you don't like the car itself, but in general against the company. As some have said, this is not a P&L initiative, is not material from that point of view. But even if it was a P&L effort, so what? I am glad to see that Porsche is still super dinamic and innovative, and even if some of the "special series" (i.e. black series) don't appeal to me as a consumer, nobody is forcing me to buy them anyways. I am glad they are constantly developing their model line up, and producing some of the best cars in the world.

kosmo

Cuz Obama doesnt think profits are important!

kosmo

Unsure, but since the whole VW takeover fiasco, something tells me that the CFO office(s) are pretty mudane.
I would imagine selling SUVEES / Sedans to real estate brokers and hair dressers would be a pretty profitable venture.

Dr_KarlB

.... cos we all know hairdressing is where the real money is made :-0

Alan Smithee

Of course this car does not impact the company's bottom line significantly. But to say that therefore this is not a money grab does not factor in the many departments and divisions within the company that have their own, much smaller, budgets. All of which are expected to maximize profit. Just like the engineer who saved the company money by eliminating parking brake cables, somebody in marketing is getting kudos for this.

After all, if it isn't about the money, why up-charge at all for a car that is supposedly a tribute to and for the most loyal enthusiasts? That is what irks me. As a Club member for over 20 years, it is insulting. If memory serves, the 997CC was actually slightly discounted when all of the standard equipment was considered.

Or if they are going to bring in an extra mil, how about putting in a mil of design and engineering, say, a double-bubble roof or truly unique interior fabric (as on the Sport Classic)? Ah, but that would reduce net profit, now wouldn't it?

Carrera GT

Perhaps if you're read your second point, below, about engineering life cycle costs, you'd not have written this first assertion. : )

It goes without saying that corporations for profit are not democracies or Kibbutz villages. While one marketing group might see the advantage in making 13 cars to a unique spec, it's not done for profit, it's done for the marketing objective. The project is going to cost money to execute. That's marketing -- it's a cost center. I was in that black pit of death for two decades. I know of what I speak.

If this project results in some cost recovery from the profit of selling 12 cars and incurring one car going to a museum, I think that's a pretty decent proposition from a PR operation.

Also, this is part of where I see "clues" in the spec of things like the power kit for the Club Coupe -- it tells us that equipment is ready for sale and will arrive soon. 997 GTS buyers at 408hp can know for a fact they're comparing the 997 against a 430hp 991 and make an informed decision, not have the lingering doubt or disappointment when the 991 GTS surfaces.

These two are such different departments of a company. In engineering, I imagine the electric parking brake came from the OEMs saying that's what they're offering and that's what will meet various government regulations. Porsche is hardly first to market and is too small to control these sorts of large scale R&D initiatives. Just in terms of brakes, Porsche is running 90's technology in the 997 -- clearly they're not purchasing off the top shelf of brake vendors or their components. Moving to the 991 gave them the opportunity to do a lot more than go to electric parking brakes that presumably require less maintenance to produce less drag (most importantly) and I'd guess it's simply what was on offer from Brembo. I doubt any resourceful engineer at Porsche came into play, but if they did, they were producing a cost saving that permeates all Porsches, not just 13 gussied up collectibles.

It's all about the P&L, why would it be otherwise? Has Porsche opened up a charitable foundation for the preservation of Porschephile sensibilities?

The 997CC was 50 units to be sold to buyers in the USA alone -- that's practically unrelated to 12 units being offered to privileged few around the world to disappear into their collections. I recall the pricing rationalization of the 997CC to be that it was optioned the way an enthusiast would want the car and it was at a price premium despite being a relatively rare and appealing model (if never to be of "investment grade" collectibility.) Again, PCNA had to market and sell 50 of the things -- had they asked for even a modest price premium, I think it would have been a flop and defeated the whole purpose.

If Porsche were to discount such a rare car as 12 units worldwide, I'd have to ask why? Who benefits at the expense of the company?

I think the Sport Classic is a rather silly thing, but it shows that Porsche can build a handful of cars and find a handful of affluent buyers. It's unrelated to the pedestrian Carrera buyer and no harm done -- it's just a bit trivial and ridiculous to think that a double bubble roof or some basket-weave fabric were the stuff of "real" Porsches. Frankly the Boxster Spyder is far more important and worthy as a Porsche than the bloody Sport Classic.

I won't revisit your ideal notion of a corporation being expected to channel "earmarked" profits back into R&D and run lean margins, but I will agree that Porsche has long since distanced itself from the enthusiast driver as it attempts to woo the cashed up luxury elitist.

There's a billion dollars of R&D that Porsche should have sunk into the 911 to keep it a 911 in perfect continuation of the 993 -- we should still have an air-cooled 911 today. A real Sport Classic. Lighter, faster and refined by each new model bringing incremental gains. Lower unsprung weight, endurance brakes, doors that close with a sound that makes 911 owners pause, and the magnificent bulletproof engines that don't leak through crank seals or burst open at hobby-glue garden hose fittings. But no, we have a given up the agility of the giant killer for the loping long legs of a bigger, heavier car that more closely resembles its Beetle origins than ever before, with more rear leg room, headlights that turn with the steering wheel (which no longer obeys the driver, if it does not approve, by the way) suspension that reacts to the road the car has already passed over, brakes that tend to decide slowing down is sometimes ill-advised and will refuse, and an engine that's cheaper to manufacture and easier to pass through the eye of the emissions needle. Bravo Porsche, Bravo.

GreenLantern

I think it's great that they're rolling out the special 991's earlier rather than later... Mostly because I'm looking forward to the GT variants, RS variants, etc. Not particularly interested in the 991CC, but it's great to get the details on the X51 Power Kit. Hopefully it'll be offered on the regular C2S soon.

fbroen

Have any pictures (or renderings) surfaced of the Club Coupe's titanium-colored engine cover?

gota911

Another opinion:

Thank goodness the post 993 911's are not air-cooled cars. If they were, I would not have a Porsche in my garage today.

LastMezger

No kidding. You can hardly argue with their strategy. Last month was a record month for 911 sales in Canada...best since 2002.

Carrera GT

You're saying the genius "strategy" of Porsche was to stagnate sales of the 911 for a decade. I'm pretty sure the board of any company seeing marginal performance of their flagship product would not agree with your analytical conclusions.

As for why anyone would "thank goodness" for the end of the air-cooled 911, exactly what benefit came to the 911 buyer of any intent or purpose in the transition to a secondary coolant heat exchange system?

The Boxster had already saved the balance sheet, no doubt plans were afoot for the 2003 Cayenne alongside the '99 996 and the likes of the GT3 and RS could arrive with their wet heads and racing homologation duties unabridged while Porsche need only set aside a small team to make sure the air-cooled 911 -- that saved the company not ten years prior -- continued its well-earned and simply legendary path forward.

I can only hope that the 991 will be just another bounce off the side rails of history and the next 911 will resume course as a focused driver's car instead of "Jack of all trades."

Mike in CA

The normal 997/S is a "jack of all trades" yet there were driver focused iterations in the GT3/RS. Why should we expect that it willl be different with the 991? And what's wrong with having "all rounders" and driver focused cars based on the same platform? There are a lot of assumptions being made with very little real information. When the first 997 came out I doubt that there were too many crystal ballers who were predicting a GT3 RS 4.0 as the end result of that evolution. Even the much maligned (in some corners) 996 produced the 996 GT3 which I think most people would agree is a pretty fair driver's car. I think it's premature to be making too many predictions about the 991 after seeing just the first model in the line.

Alan Smithee

Why? Because Porsche is focusing on a larger market for its sports cars. I'll bet you a dollar the 991GT3 has the full complement of electronic driver aids and filters - PSM, PASM, EPS, DEM, PTV, PDCC, and PDK - with 20" wheels.

LastMezger

I didn't say it was genius...just that you can't argue with it. And I didn't say the strategy was to stagnate sales.

Their strategy is obviously to make every model line more appealing to a broader demographic. They want Merc SL and BMW 6 Series buyers in 911s.

Enthusiasts need not worry as the GT cars and special sport models like the Spyder and Cayman R are like automotive crack!

Regarding the air-cooled engine. From what I understand it was expensive to build and dirty from an emissions standpoint. They obviously felt water-cooling would be better for the balance sheet (as a solution to the aforementioned) and at the end of the day 99.9% of people don't have a clue what the difference is anyway.