I have heard from various dealers that the 2009 allocations for 911s are going to be light. Dealers are telling me that if I want a 2009 911 then I must order a car because there will be few, if any, cars for the US. Can anyone confirm whether 2009 allocations have been limited? The same dealers have told me that cars are going to be sold at MSRP because of the low allocations. I have seen other people on Rennlist say that they have been order a car with a 10% discount. Can anyone help on these issues?

 

Why don't you contact Champion Porsche in Pompano Beach, Florida. They always have the largest allocation.

 

I had a short discussion with my dealer about this last weekend - cars will be in short supply, but anything you order they should be able to get, but it might take a little longer. He thought pricing would be good, depending on the dealer and your relationship with them. They're being encouraged to sell cars, he'd just returned from dealer training in Kalif on recognizing foreign buyers.

 

Demand will be lower than the supply for sure. I walked into my local dealership yesterday and the sales guy said that he hasn't sold a car in a week.

 

This is a ridiculous statement on so many levels. First, the US is Porsche's (and the world's) largest car market; so few cars for the US??? Really?
Second, dealer is saying if you want a car, better order now. LOL. Yes, that is a surprise. Better move quick.
Third, since when does anyone take seriously what a car salesman says anyway? It's all part of the selling game.
I expect there will be lots of cars to go around.

 

I got one for Sep no problem.

 

Sorry for hijacking, but that's an interesting statement... my buddy and I had thought about reimporting to Germany... because of the different pricing approach over there (skimming versus penetration) and now the strong Euro, 997 models cost $40,000+ more in Deutschland. Of course, Porsche AG would hate that, so we were wondering if/how they where trying to prevent that... apparently they ARE concernced!

 

With the US markets and economy being in the dumps as it is, I would think that a prospective 997 purchaser would have a lot of leverage right now. I certainly would not succumb to any of the standard sales tactics if i were to buy now (act quick, no discounts, etc.) and would demand some type of discount, or walk. Leave your number on the way out, and see how quickly they call you back with a deal.

 

I count sixty--- 60! ----911 for sale on the beverly hills porsche web site

 

I saw my dealers alocation list today and it is around 1 to zero Carrera and CarreraS per month from Sept till Jan2010. All the other dealers around are exactly the same. Very very low amount of 2009 Carrera's will be coming to the USA for a while.

 

You're not the only one. My 997 is advertised for sale right now, and half of the calls have been from Germans looking to export.

 

Alan, that's pretty interesting. We went through the numbers and figured we could sell them at signficantly lower prices and still make a 10K profit per car, provided that they sell (which would be my buddy's job over there). We weren't sure if Germans would actually be interested in buying used re-imported cars, but your inquiries show they are.

 

Phone some out-of-state dealers in upper midwest/ great lakes; bet you'll find an '09 build at attractive price in the first half-dozen calls.
We went up to Henry Ford/Greenfield Village last weekend, stopped into Farmington Hls Porsche dealer for my semi-annual visit... tumbleweeds rolling through there....granted MI economy makes extreme example- but they have far more 997/987 sitting unsold than I've ever seen there since models hit market in '05.

Wolf, I actually ran a similar business from around 1987-1991 in the pre-EU, pre-monetary union (but weak US dollar) days ... my niche was shipping over muscle cars/ land barges... e.g., Eldorado convt's, Corvettes of all years, '61 Chrysler Imperials, 428ci Mustangs, big block GM Firebird/Camaro, stuff like that.

Your research may have already ferreted out this issue-- but are you sure there isn't a *(1-2) vehicle per year/ for personal import by a German national* (or similar limitation prohibiting resale within X years of same) imposed by German gov't? I recruited a partner in crime in the UK to receive and resell the cars, I did very well for a while but leading up to EU formation around '92/93 the escalating gov't regs (+EuroGM/Ford heirarchy influence seeking to eliminate Ma & Pa export op's like mine?) killed enough of my margin to make it impractical.

I still say great idea, though; carpe diem..$USD even weaker now so may be entirely feasible enterprise, good luck. (sorry for temporary thread hijack)

 

Oh man, Paul, I was IN LOVE with American cars back then... they were selling them in Hamburg where I lived, but of course I could not afford them. Pretty cool!

Yes, we did our research; well, mostly he did. We'll see. Both of us currently have enough other stuff on our plates, so we have kind of tabled the idea until January. By then the margins should be even more fun...

P.S.: Apologies again for hijacking.

 

probably true, the lots are full of 2008's.

This is a normal business adjustment of inventory, you won't be able to buy a 2009 Ford F-150 for months for the same reason. Its not a shortage of 2009s as much as a glut of 2008s, they just turned off the tap for a while.