jskylarwilson

Did y'all see this? Porsche is opening 100 classic centers at existing dealers so they can repair and restore classic Porsches.

Great that they can specialize and repair with original parts. Bad for the pocket book.

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/11/28/p...work-official/

myflat6

Bad for pocket book indeed. Parts and cars will become more expensive.

Ed Hughes

So what? How many here will use them? 50%?

Mike J

Not sure of the logic on why this would drive the parts prices up? As one who would never take my car to one of these centers anyways I am not too excited, and I bet that the mechanics in those places did not have hair when the cars they will be working on were made.

Cheers,

Mike

Vandit

Porsche has been ratcheting up parts prices, sometimes dramatically. Now that they're going to be part of the maintenance/repair shop ecosystem for classic owners, what's stopping them from trying to price out DIYers and independent shops. I mean they're a public company (i.e. greedy and focus on profits only), so that's a good strategy to force their way into a lot of market action they are currently missing out on.

I feel there are a lot of players involved (Porsche, independent Porsche shops, dealers/flippers, and high net worth individuals), but the overall goal is to move classic (i.e. anything air-cooled) Porsche ownership upmarket and price out a decent chunk of the current owner base.

I mean, there are people on this site whose comments regularly seem to have the underlying tone of "perhaps your ability to join our ranks was a mistake that needs correcting."

Quadcammer

Just another place for them to rape you out of your money.

NYC993

nothing new here. The classic shop has been a subsidiary of porsche restoring old cars for years. That's what allows to have old parts in demand in first place. They determine demand for old parts and go to original suppliers or new ones to have the parts reproduced-at least that's what they say. Now they are brining service that was only available in Germany to the (well off) masses. The higher the scale they can achieve the cheaper the parts should get and better yet, parts that are NLA may become available. Will that be expensive? Sure. But expensive and available is better than unavailable.

shadow993

Didn't Datsun do this for a short period??

Mike J

Because of their fancy shop setup, highly paid staff, and high profit margins, they will never be able to compete $ for $ with the DIY'ers and the independants - sure the price of parts may go up, but the labour rates are out of their control.

Anyways, it will be interesting to see how this pans out. I can see them being involved in the high end classic market for sure (like restoring an old RS, or rare car) but not sure sure about the mid and lower market.

Cheers,

Mike

Vandit

Sorry, my statement wasn't clear. If they're controlling pricing (margins) on parts, they can jack up prices on parts to the point that it's cost prohibitive for a DIYer or independent shop to do work. The Porsche Classic shop will get those same parts much closer to cost than an independent shop or DIYer can.

mpruden

Parts prices are sky high because that's supply and demand.

Since dealers are separate companies from Porsche, I see this as just a way to support their dealer network through some kind of marketing / certification program, while growing a sales channel for classic parts.

Porsche: Hey dealer owner - if you invest $$$$ certifying 2 techs, 1 marketing, and a parts person through our Classic program, you can become one of the few official "Classic Centers."

Dealer: I guess so - I'll get more cars through my service center and sell more classic parts at full retail profit margin. Not to mention, I'll probably get some go-to-market dollars from Porsche to differentiate me above my regional competitors. Let's do it.

Porsche classic grows their sales channel, more exposure, and hopefully more revenue so they can keep more 993 parts from going NLA.

Mike J

Thanks - get your point, and you are right, that is totally possible. Time will tell I guess ... :-)

Cactus

I would like to see the comparo of a resto through Classic and an independent shop. Price and quality.

JB 911

I wonder if the Porsche shop will turn some guy loose with a cosmoline gun on the finished product

myflat6