Porsche says 'kerching!'
New model blitz helps Porsche ride out recession
But of course November last year was the moment the new 991 launched, so it's little wonder sales of the 997 were a little stagnant at this point. Likewise the chest beating about a three-fold increase in Boxster sales seems a little cheeky, given that this too is based on an all-new model.
The shocking thing, however, is not the 30 per cent increase in sales January-November in China, or 63 per cent boost comparing November 2012 with November 2011 in the same market. No, the really surprising thing is just how few sports cars Porsche now sells - of the nearly 13,000 cars it built in November just a smidge over 2,000 were 911s. And just 1,200 were Boxsters.
And you don't need to be a market analyst to guess what's really selling, or where. Sales are up in Europe - bucking trends elsewhere in the car market - but they're still soaring in China and America, the overall 128,978 vehicles built trumping 2011's number of 118,868 by some margin and not swelled by sales of 911s of Boxsters. Such is the way of it - at least they're still building them!
This must be bad news for those who insist that the GT3 will be manual as porsche will worry about sales of a PDK car. GT3 sales must be so tiny as a percentage of overall sales that I can't see porsche feeling any urgent need to respond to a small segment demanding manuals. That said I guess its a miracle porsche make GT3s at all!
worrying ..
Re Cayenne, it's widely accepted Porsche weren't far off going bust and Cayenne saved them.
15,000 x 4 = 60,000 for a 4 yr model run
60,000 x £40,000 (an average price) = £2,400,000,000
Its doing a lot of cost sharing with the 911, its facelift for the 2nd half of its run will be fairly minimal cost, so you are looking at roughly £5bn of income from the model. Development costs - say £250mn. For that £40k selling price, figure on £30k being "costs", so £1,800,000,000. That is £600mn difference, take out the 250 for development and you are looking at roughly £300 - £350mn of profit.
Throw in the Cayman and you double the sales for what...15% fraction on the development costs, lets make it a round £300mn then for development costs over both models. Over the Cayman run of 2 x 4 yrs, use the Boxster figures as a rough guide and you basically double the amounts. Profits then over the 8 yrs run of the Box and Cayman are looking at about £700mn.
Worth it? Just a little bit.
Im sure the 911 still makes them alot of money in profit however, parts sharing with the boxster and cayman spreads the costs of many parts making the 911 more profitable still. Even if they broke even on the boxster/cayman it still makes them alot of money indirectly.
Also underpins how clever old Wendelin Wiedeking was - always had a soft spot and while the words "he saved the company" are often overused I suspect those who love Porsches have a great deal to thank the guy for!
worrying ..
Win win for everyone.
15,000 x 4 = 60,000 for a 4 yr model run
60,000 x £40,000 (an average price) = £2,400,000,000
Its doing a lot of cost sharing with the 911, its facelift for the 2nd half of its run will be fairly minimal cost, so you are looking at roughly £5bn of income from the model. Development costs - say £250mn. For that £40k selling price, figure on £30k being "costs", so £1,800,000,000. That is £600mn difference, take out the 250 for development and you are looking at roughly £300 - £350mn of profit.
Throw in the Cayman and you double the sales for what...15% fraction on the development costs, lets make it a round £300mn then for development costs over both models. Over the Cayman run of 2 x 4 yrs, use the Boxster figures as a rough guide and you basically double the amounts. Profits then over the 8 yrs run of the Box and Cayman are looking at about £700mn.
Worth it? Just a little bit.
The 911 will survive though; it's too much of a halo model to ditch even if they somehow stopped making a profit on it.
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