DMin

I dropped by the dealer today and the sales manager for the Porsche dealer showed me an e-mail he had received from Porsche that announced that the worldwide production numbers would be limited to 1250 units. The number of cars release in North America would be adjusted to reflect the decrease as well.

This is good news for current owners, as I suspect this should stabilize the pricing free-fall. It is bad news for people who have yet to get theirs, as most likely dealers will likely try to get MSRP again.

ben in lj

yeah, what is US allocation now? 600? that even seems a tough target given only about 150 were sold by the end of April (after a year+ of sales) and the last US built car is 7/05.

Nick

Well, I give credit to Porsche for trying to stem the falling price of the car. By using language "limited to 1250" they convey the appearance of exclusivity. The reality is that is probably all they can sell. They should have stuck with 750 cars but got greedy. Now all their best customers are paying the price.

I believe this too little too late.

Les Quam

Ben,
Please fill us in on some background on your post? What is the source of your sales information that only 150 have been sold in NA thus far? And the source of July 5 being the last build out for NA???


Cave

ben in lj

hey cave,

the source for sales was the PCNA sales results they posted for 4/05. check with any dealer and you will find the last US allocation is 7/2005.

bambi

Les Quam

Bambi,

So your information then is that only 150 CGTs have been sold as of April 2005???? Doesn't that seem a bit low to you? I imagine we don't know how many have been shipped to NA huh? How many are sitting unsold at dealers?


cave

ben in lj

yep, seemed low to me. according to the production numbers based upon the #'d cars they were completing last week combined with their current 3/day production and a likely early 8/2005 factory closure as usual, it would seem they're on target for 1k total cars produced by the end of 7/2005. i think if memory serves they were on like #8XX last week meaning 4XX were likely built for the US. how many of those were still on the boat and how many are sitting at pcar dealers is another question. 150 sold though doesn't seem that crazy, but if it's correct, there have to be a pretty decent number sitting unsold at dealers. i knew they weren't going to be able to sell anywhere near 1500 at MSRP. they started selling them at invoice a few months ago and aren't even @ 2/3rds of original expected production.

Nick

I believe there are 600 Porsche dealers in the US. Clearly they have sold more than 150 CGT's. Didn't the dealers in Florida sell more than 20. I thought Champion sold its entire allocation of 24 cars.

Les Quam

Bambi,

It's my understanding that NA build out ends this July. Then European production will continue in September? Are you saying no more CGTs for the entire world will be built after July 2005???? The owner of my local Porsche dealership was told Europe will get 2006 CGTs have you heard otherwise??? Remember we are not getting 06 CGTs because of the 06 NA airbag specification change.

If they are currently building in the 800 range I believe the majority of those have been delivered to NA?

Also when you say 150 have been sold are you saying 150 in total for 2004 and 2005 or just 150 for the first 5 months of 2005????

Cave

20C4S

i don't think as of yet the 1250 total cars will make any difference in pricing. my local deealer was stupid enough to indirectly tell me their incoming CGT was sold & they can't get me one anymore. thurs i ordered the car from another dealer thanks to Ben. since then my local dealer called me many time begging me to buy the one i was told not available. they told me they'll deal the car whatever they can & they have to sell it. my sense telling me bank owns it not them & now they're screwed. IMO the car will sell & hold the price if there's no financial pressure. certainly this is not happening even with the dealers then the market will be F-up. i truly hope all the CGTs will be in the true enthusiasts' garage.

why would u think dealers are willing to discount CGT at a no profit price? because they're scared even losing money if the car sits there. i think dealer can make more money selling a 997 C2S coupe or cab.

ben in lj

cave,

it is my understanding 06 models will be built for ROW (though it's gonna be a tough sale when the CGT is a world car, can be bought for sub $400k USD here, and carries a 4 yr parts warranty here vs. 2 yr there). there "should" be a fair number of ROW buyers picking up cars in the US for export (i've already seen this happening and personally know of a few).

i highly doubt the majority of the 800 range has been sent to NA given only appx 150 CGTs have EVER been sold in the US (yes nick, that's ever SOLD in the US). that would suggest dealer inventory of 650 which is completely unbelievable. there are never more than 10 advertised in the back of autoweek at a time (dipped to like 6 week before last) and quite a few less on ebay (currently 5) and only 12 on dupont registry (several of these cars are crossed advertised on autoweek, ebay and dupont listings and are therefore duplicative). keep in mind too, many of these cars are USED and are therefore already included in the 150 number - not the proposed 650 in inventory. surely w/ a suggested 650+ of new CGT inventory we'd be seeing considerably more than the trickle of for sale ads unless they're planning to sell them via the tooth fairy :-)

bambi

ben in lj

some dealers are selling for invoice (the one you and les bought from) because they get 4 permanent Pcar allocations for each CGT sold. profit margin on the avg pcar is $7 to $10k (at least at the dealership you guys bought from) on the box, 911, cay mix. even figuring the low end ($7k) and assuming porsche isn't rebating (i wouldn't be surprised if they are at this point), that's 4 * $7k or $28k/yr from now on for each CGT they sell - regardless of price. profit margin on a CGT is only $35k including the dealer holdback. so, for every $35k or portion thereof they give up on a mere two year limited production car, they gain a minimum and permanent $28k/yr annual revenue stream. for the 5 cars this particular dealership has sold to my friends at invoice (including dealer holdback), they have put $35k/yr in their pocket from here on out - minimum. they are also scoring major brownie points with PCNA given these things aren't exactly selling themselves. as well, they are thrilled with the new, wealthy, and pcar loyal customers (my friends are all enthusiasts) they are getting from selling this one car at cost to them. contrast this to the 8 * $50k deposits the other dealer in town lost when they cancelled the 8 allocations they were speculating on.

20C4S

so ben that could be a ''buy one get one cheap'' deal!

20C4S

of course. and since then i sent them one confirmed 997 buyer and few pending that i jacked from my past dealer because of my poor CGT buying experience. sad thing is i've bought 5 porsches from them since 2002 & send them many customers. guess who i'm gonna send my customers from now on or my future Pcars. a single poor business practiced dealer can sometime reflect the whole system. too bad not everyone thinks the same.

ben in lj

no, sold isn't sold until it's delivered to the retail customer. that champion may or may not have "sold" it's entire allocation (ie: $50k customer deposits on all) does not mean they have "sold" all those allocation for purposes of cars sold to date. iow, only delivered and paid for cars count toward the PCNA reported sold numbers.

btw, when i put up my deposit in 7/03, all of pioneer's allocations were "sold" so i had to buy elsewhere. however, they haven't had any trouble getting my 5 friends CGTs. people back out as champion i'm sure has experienced as well. a LARGE number of "sold" allocations were speculators (including nearly every allocation by the other dealer in town). when the price fell, they bailed. hence, they are not "sold" until they are produced, delivered, and paid for.

btw, your # of pcar dealers number is well over 200% high. there are only 200 in the US AND canada:

http://www.hoovers.com/porsche-cars-...actsheet.xhtml