XSpeedFreakX

Some people are confusing the price of the seats as an option when buying a new Porsche versus buying them aftermarket. As an option on a new car, the price is reasonable.

John Velasco

really!

mooty

yes, $4000 paint color from factory is MORE reasonable than $10k aftermarket, but it is nevertheless a rip off.

XSpeedFreakX

True indeed.

340Elise

Seriously, the sport seat option on a base 997 or the 997 S is $800, and the adaptive sport seats are about $3000. I expect these new sport seats to come in less than the adaptive sport seats, if they will be replacing the current sport seat option.

However, if they are a third option, maybe as part of a new club sport option (for the US I would expect this to be the seats, a fire extinguisher, and the sport chrono ) or only available through tequipment, then I expect them to be significantly more expensive.

My understanding is that these hinged seats are the new sport seat option for any '08 997 being built around Nov or Dec or Jan and later.

I'm hoping that I can get them as an $800.00 option, but I have always been optimistic.

Stephen

340Elise

I agree that $4000 is a bit high, but it certainly requires a special effort from Porsche to do something like this. If you think about the standard colors, they can set up their fancy robotic paint process with a color that will be used on many cars and allow for a long, smooth run of the assembly line. If they have a special color that they are using for only one single car, I can see how this will slow down the line to change out the color for that one car. How much does it slow everything down? Maybe 5 minutes, maybe 20 minutes; I don't know. But I am sure there is a multiplier for each minute lost on the paint assembly line while one or two guys are swapping out the color and everyone else just sits there and waits. I can see it easily costing several thousand dollars for money spent on wages, resources and such during this unproductive time of changing the paint color. I'm sure you business guys have a word for this, or a better definition.

Also, Porsche has certain standards for the paint finish that each car has to meet. A common color panel that has some flaws is easily replaced with another one and thrown back into the beginning of the paint process for a repaint (after being prepped). If you have a special color, then I would think that they would immediately inspect the entire car right after being painted to be sure that there are no flaws that would require a repaint. They don't want to switch out the paint for one car, and then do it all over again. This again requires more resources, and can stop the paint assembly line while this inspection of the car is being conducted.

Then there is the special prep of the new color, and making sure that it is mixed properly to meet the customer's request. There may even be some experimenting required with the paint to see how it matches when used on a metal and plastic surface. We all know that the bumpers often times do not match right from the factory because they are plastic. I have noticed an improvement with this on the 997, and I think they decided that this needed to be corrected. To fix this they may have come up with a new paint technology which does not show these differences on different surfaces, or they actually adjust the tint of the paint on metal and plastic parts so that the end product matches. My local high end paint shop told me this has always been a problem, especially with metallic paints. One of the theories I heard on the metallic paint is that the metal flakes in the paint line up differently on the plastic vs. metal, so the end result gives a different look based on the sparkle of the metal flakes.

Anyway, I can see a one of a kind color taking some special attention to make sure it is done right, and I can see it slowing down the painting portion of the assembly line much more than a standard color.

My other theory is that all custom colors are done in a special paint booth by hand. This would certainly explain the increase in price. Maybe they have one guy who just does special colors all day long???

Other than my theories above, yeah, it sure does seem like a rip off!

eclou

All those theories sound great until you see the production line. Then, you just feel like a victim.

Joe S.

The Euro CF seats options are priced at $6251 in alcantra and $8400 in leather in the UK, so I doubt these new seats are going to be any kind of a bargain price around $800 in the US.

pcar964

old GT3 seats: $2500
new GT2 seats: $9000
That must be one fancy $6500 hinge

Flying Finn

x3
That was friggin' hilarious!

lawjdc

Your analysis may have some merit with a truly custom color, but loses its steam when Porsche charges $4K on an RS for the same white color that comes on every other 997 without additional charge.

340Elise

Good point. Drat, I spent a lot of time writing that too.

340Elise

Could you expand please? I take it that it is really easy to swap colors, or they spend a lot of time screwing around and taking breaks anyway. No, the Germans would never do that.

rop3

Didn't some one say months ago that these would not be available on GT3 & RS cars for 08?

I have an 11/27 build date, just got a copy of the 08 order guide created on 9/14 no mention of the seats.

Anyone know the dimensions, probably more snug around the shoulders/seat bottom. Do they reduce headroom like the old 993 sport seats?

340Elise

That is correct, they are not available on the GT3 and RS.