ben in lj

nope, working off the same rumors you probably are and coming to similar conclusions about similar circumstantial stuff.

ben in lj

don't know about anyone else, but i still look much further as i would on any other sports car. the need to look closer is primarily at very low speeds pulling in and out of places.

themarsman

I took the piece off today and I am more pissed than ever, I think the thing weighs less than 6 oz. It is held on by 20 little round push pin type clips, which come off pretty easily.

The piece is about a third of a circle, it is about 63" wide, shaped like an L with the one dimension where it touches the car is 1 1/8". The part that you are able to see is 1/8" at the ends and 3/4" in the middle. The part is pretty flexable but is certainly plastic and not rubber. I am sure we can make the part including the mold for less than it would cost to purchase just one from the dealership.

I would bet that Porsche doesn't have more than $5 in one of these in materials, I understand that the CGT is a rare car but they are still planning on making 1,500 of them so they are not what would be considered a limited run. Hell they could produce 5K of them, because with the front end as low as it is they would sell them all if the price was more reasonable. I would be willing to pay $200 for one from the dealership, but over $500 is criminal.

I will take pictures of the original piece and the part I have produced and if anyone wants them I will sell them for about $100. I am guessing the mold will cost me about $400 and the material would be about $20 in small quantities.

I will report back on my progress and the only way I would sell any is if they are as good or better than the stock piece.

Curt911

I guess when Porsche priced out this car they thought the clientele would have an attitude different than the true Porsche Enthusiast....

"Gasp...Look William some fool has destroyed the integrity of this Carrera GT! He has replaced that lip with some type of home-made part. Yes Shirley! You are right! That fool has reduced the value at least $10k...HA HA HA HA"

themarsman

I think you are right, Porsche figures they can charge whatever and people will pay it. I don't think the average person who buys this car is that stupid and I hope Porsche realizes this and adjusts their prices accordingly.

I am not holding my breath though!

W8MM

I guess I have a different hope. I don't care what the parts cost as much as I hope that they will remain available for a long time into the future.

Spare parts peculiar to the CGT (or other low-volume vehicles) cost more because the engineering and tooling costs have to be spread over very small fabrication runs. The under-bumper spoiler strip for a Honda Civic is bound to cost less (per piece) than the same part applied to a Carrera GT (or GT2) just because of the need to pay back the fixed development expenses over the relative volumes involved.

Added to the fixed costs of development are possible labor-per-part increases due to trade-offs between more expensive automatic tooling versus more labor intense production methods for a particular part in question. Spare parts for low-volume cars can be more expensive (irrespective of tooling) if lots of hand labor is required in the production of each item. Higher labor costs per piece can be the best solution if the vendor is facing huge, extra tooling costs to move up to the next level of labor saving per part.

When taken together, the low tooling-amortization per part and the possible extra labor costs per part add up to a very large cost differential that somebody has to pay. Normally, profitable businesses pass the costs through to their customers.

Interestingly, Ferrari owners are quite used to this state of affairs. The only reason I can guess that Porsche owners are not is that there are normally many more examples of a particular model Porsche produced compared to the comparable Ferrari model upon which to amortize the costs. The "GT" Porsches occupy a Ferrari-like production number in a higher volume mind-set. Ferrari owners call this the price of exclusivity. Porsche owners tend to think it's just the factory trying to rip them off.

I guess my manufacturing background makes me more sympathetic to Porsche's prices for CGT (or GT2/GT3) spares than others might be. I just hope that their bean-counters don't decide that they are smarter than the customer service people when it comes to maintaining happy customers over the long-term ownership experience.

What I want is a reliable, long-term source of spare parts for a car that will have only 1500 examples ever built. I'm hoping for the best.

themarsman

I understand about manufacturing and developmental costs, but they have already developed the required manufacturing tools to reproduce this part at a very low cost. I could understand if this was a complex part or made of a special material or something that required a significant amount of labor. None of these are the case for this part, Porsche sees this as something to generate revenue.

I develop software and electronics and the cost of development can be quite high, so sure I have to figure in my cost into every board I sell, but if one of my boards fail and it is out of warranty I don't need to sell the replacement board with these costs in mind. I have already been paid for the development costs and now I am replacing a bad board with zero additional development costs. I know you have a similiar business practice with your product in terms of repair and upgrade.

I also hope that parts are available for the CGT for many years to come, I imagine that if Porsche doesn't support them it would hurt them on future sales of other low production cars. There is also enough money in parts for the car for others to take over if Porsche drops the ball.

PogueMoHone

Mike,

I too have a manufaturing background, (with 15+ years in China) and there is no reason other than "Profit" for these parts to cost what they do. Porsche will charge what the market will bear..and it's the cost of exclusivity. I don't see the prices changing.

Bob Rouleau

Guys, the price quoted for the CGT lip is quite reasonable when compared to GT2 and GT3 parts. Heck it is less than twice the cost of the equivalent GT3 part. Given the price differential between them, you got off lucky. I have always found that the price of a replacement part is usually proportional to the cost of the car. My experiment with Ferraris proved that point. 8MM made the telling point, parts at an exorbitant price are annoying. A lack of parts is a disaster.

Rgds,

ben in lj

first, we were hoping to avoid the ferrari rape act via the porsche.

second, if it was one of the parts on the car made out of special materials (like magnesium, carbon fiber, etc), it might be a little more understandable. however, it's a cheap **** piece of plastic! there is NO reason it should be more than the GT2 or GT3. btw, i don't know that they made a lot more GT2s than they are planning for the CGT.

JasonAndreas

Has anyone priced this part at Sunset Imports? Dealer cost is usually around 40% of retail so it might not be that bad.

ben in lj

In Oregon? If so, yes and they are fantastic!

themarsman

I emailed them tonight and I will let you know what price they provide.

PTEC

For you guys with headlight fogging problems, did you guys take your cars in for this? I know Porsche has issued a technical bulletin for this.

ben in lj

when was this issued? i was in a month or two ago and they didn't have one yet (only for our cayenne).