With good race gloves, I don’t see a need for the race tex-and definitely don’t like the feel without gloves.

 

Looks like the new requirement is that all GT3's sold in CA has to be PDK. If anyone in CA has an allocation for a manual and dead set on it I'm on the list with 2 out of state dealers and can swap or if you're giving up your allocation I'd love to grab. I was leaning towards PDK. Thank you!

 

???

 

My mistake. All cars sold must be PDK.

 

Really? Is that an EPA CA mandate?
That is crazy.

 

So did CA just go from the highest dealer ADM state to one of the lowest?

 

Sound regulations. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2...al-california/

 

This is hilarious and I'm glad it came and bit them in the a**.

 

Thank you! That is unbelievable. I decided to pick FL because of taxes and motorcycle restrictions. I didn’t know it it would ever affect one’s ability to pick a manual gearbox Porsche. Glad I didn’t pick CA.

 

Yeah but if you picked Cali you could lane split...tough choice

 

True, but taxes and cost of living was just not justified. Still love Cali, but it’s restrictive nature makes it an even harder choice. Let’s hope Porsche sorts it out for the Cali manual owners looking to get a 992.

 

Hope it's not some dorky solution like what Ducati had to do with the Panigale in Japan

 

How many of you are still looking for a GT3? California tried to kill the manual and Audi plans on being 100% electric by 2026. When will we lose natural combustion with Porsche? What do you want to drive when your old?

 

Actually, I do think it’s wrong, and this type of price gauging is limited to very few ‘retail’ markets. B2B markets fluctuate pricing based on supply and demand all the time, but typically for input commodities. Retailers usually stick to the price listed by the manufacturer, often times because they have to by their selling agreements. Porsche dealers are not charging a premium to offset higher input costs, they are literally just Gauging customers and due to cheap money flooding the market and asset prices on a tear, they are able to do it. On the other hand, during this pandemic, off the top of my head, here are items that are in short supply or have been at some point, but retailers did not take advantage of consumers:

1. Video game systems
2. Toilet paper
3. Lumber (retailers are not charging higher margins, they are passing their higher costs to consumers)
4. Food stables (milk, eggs, bread)
5. Alcohol
6. Luxury watches at authorized retailers (walk into an official Rolex store, and see if they are charging even $1 over list for watches that are 3 years backordered)
7. Airline flights through retail locations
8. Bicycles

The bottom line is, Porsche dealers are playing a bull**** game. Are they doing anything illegal, no. What’s wrong with just trying to make more money in a business? I would answer that with what’s wrong with private, for profit hospitals only giving oxygen to the richest covid-19 patients, i.e put a markup? What’s wrong with the local grocery store raising milk prices to $20 a gallon? If someone pays it because they can afford it is that ok? Whether you ‘can’ make more of a profit is not the only litmus test of a business. Customer service and loyalty are great long term drivers of business success as well. In fact, it’s really up to Porsche themselves to solve this, because it hurts their brand more than it helps it in my opinion. They can restrict their dealers from charging a markup but don’t. This way of treating customers will come back to bite them IMO. I’m the CEO of a company in a market that is incredibly hot, Digital Experiences (CRM, Commerce, CPQ) for large enterprises, and there’s a shortage of workers. I could go to my longtime customers and charge them 20% markups just to increase my margin, and they would pay because they have to, but I would essentially kill my relationship with them because it’s not the ethical thing to do. Now, passing on 20% increase in my costs I would do all day if the market would allow it.

If you’re a long time Porsche customer who has agree to pay a markup, that’s your decision for sure, but it support unethical behavior in my opinion.

I personally won’t pay a dime over what Porsche themselves expect customers to pay for a new car. If a dealer wants to sell me at that price, awesome, if not, that’s ok too, it’s just a f’ing car. It just doesn’t make marking up prices above MSRP ok.

 

Very good post and my philosophy also. I see no reason to pay over msrp on a car. Like you said, Its just a friggin car. Too many people get worked up over it. If they wanna sell it great, Im a buyer. If they want to inflate prices, meh- Ill probably move on to something else.