718 GT4 limited again?

[ChrisW.]

Quick, get your orders in !!

Sorry for being so cynical, they are great cars but really ...

Classics take you down a different route and from a new car sales perspective don't count (unless you use the Porsche Classic dealers who are trying to nick the Porsche Classic business that has been created by all the independents ..)

As it happens I own five classic P's ... plus a few others ... but none of this counts for a new car.

[Twinfan]

It's not about what you own, it's about how much you use the OPC. If you're only buying a few parts for classics here and there and they hardly know your name why would they allocate you a low-volume GT car that other regular customers are also asking for?

It's just common sense to me - the cars go to customers the OPC know well, usually through them spending money there on a regular basis.

[bcr5784]

Twinfan said:

I

It's just common sense to me - the cars go to customers the OPC know well, usually through them spending money there on a regular basis.

It is economic sense for Porsche to create a "super buyer" who will have access to limited edition cars (having paid his entry fee by buying a few "bread and butter" cars). It similarly makes sense to the OPCs to cultivate such "super buyers".

But, given there is no production reason to limit production of "halo" cars such as the (so-called) GT3/4 edition - it's understandable Iif it pisses off someone who just wants to buy a "GT3/gt4".

Edited by bcr5784 on Sunday 10th January 20:13

[Richard718]

@goldjono Amazing that you will have a GTS 4.0 and the Spyder. Tell me, any chance of seeing a photo of your Python Green GTS 4.0?

[Goldjono]

Richard718 said:

@goldjono Amazing that you will have a GTS 4.0 and the Spyder. Tell me, any chance of seeing a photo of your Python Green GTS 4.0?

[Richard718]

Wow, that is absolutely stunning: thank you so much for sharing that. My GTS4 is Carrara White. Nice but not like that!

[Rojibo]

bcr5784 said:

It is economic sense for Porsche to create a "super buyer" who will have access to limited edition cars (having paid his entry fee by buying a few "bread and butter" cars). It similarly makes sense to the OPCs to cultivate such "super buyers".

But, given there is no production reason to limit production of "halo" cars such as the (so-called) GT3/4 edition - it's understandable Iif it pisses off someone who just wants to buy a "GT3/gt4".

Edited by bcr5784 on Sunday 10th January 20:13

There was some spiel on them being limited due to the margins being much smaller than the regular cooking models, "they're selling these cars at a loss, don't you know". How much I believe that, I'm not sure.

[GRD_72]

Twinfan said:

We need more info from GRD_72 - do you have a signed order form? Did you confirm your spec?

£5k deposit paid, not spec’d the car or had a confirmed slot or spec lockdown date. I have received my invite down to PEC but for obvious reasons I’ve not used it yet.

[bcr5784]

Rojibo said:

There was some spiel on them being limited due to the margins being much smaller than the regular cooking models, "they're selling these cars at a loss, don't you know". How much I believe that, I'm not sure.

Complete BS I AM sure

[SuperMario888]

The cars are never sold at a loss. This is complete rubbish that the journalists and dealers come up with to make the cars sound like some sort of sacrifice the manufacturer is making for its clients. Then they start using words like 'passion' when it basically is all a marketing ploy to make people spend money and raise the company's profile.

However, the car could be 'sold at a loss' if you incorporate the cost of any new R&D specifically into that model only - for example a new engine that over time will have lots of applications but currently has one. Then if you limit the volume of the car - then yes in a very round about way you are selling at a loss but in terms of pure manufacturing cost + delivery vs RRP, Porsche if anyone have a healthy profit.

Also as we know most manufacturers make their profits on aftermarket activity, so over the lifetime of a GT product I'm sure they do quite well.

[Twinfan]

GRD_72 said:

£5k deposit paid, not spec’d the car or had a confirmed slot or spec lockdown date. I have received my invite down to PEC but for obvious reasons I’ve not used it yet.

Odd you have a PEC invitation as everything else implies that you do not have a car on order.

There was a recent round of allocations so you need to hassle your OPC.

[tedblog]

Judging by the profit Porsche make ,which i think is equivalent to approx £14k per car sold.
VW lost £375 per car so far in 2020, Porsche made £9,000
Make your own decision?

Edited by tedblog on Sunday 10th January 23:13

[ChrisW.]

Twinfan said:

It's not about what you own, it's about how much you use the OPC. If you're only buying a few parts for classics here and there and they hardly know your name why would they allocate you a low-volume GT car that other regular customers are also asking for?

It's just common sense to me - the cars go to customers the OPC know well, usually through them spending money there on a regular basis.

I completely agree with your logic if you wish to maximise profits in the good times. But there were not always good times and I bought my first new Porsche in 1979 ... but only four since then.
If I had bought five times as many from five different dealers would that make me an inferior customer ? As it happens, I haven't.
But as a Porsche enthusiast with PCGB and giving passenger rides on track I must have created many sales .. Porsche can please themselves how choosey they are ... and I can please my self how critical i am of them. I am not asking for a discount ...
In the longer term I believe that they are being very short-shighted ... and I will continue to say so ... unless something changes.
Just look at all the flipped cars ....

Edited by ChrisW. on Sunday 10th January 22:45

[MannyLon]

It does come across that many of these Porsche dealers worked as Rolex salespeople before

[EvoSid]

Twinfan said:

EvoSid said:

tedblog said:

Do you think so? I know they arent getting much info from Stuttgart even for parts on order?

I know of 2 people personally who had to wait about a year form confirmation / deposit to getting the car and I think I know of one person had to wait 15 months !

Due to COVID issues only? Other things at play in those examples I suspect.

No idea what caused the delay but 1 is a serial Porsche buyer form that OPC and i think has bout over 25 Porsche cars and he is proper petrolhead
The one one ordered his Spyder in December 19 and did not get delivery till December 20.

[Twinfan]

ChrisW. said:

I completely agree with your logic if you wish to maximise profits in the good times. But there were not always good times and I bought my first new Porsche in 1979 ... but only four since then.
If I had bought five times as many from five different dealers would that make me an inferior customer ? As it happens, I haven't.
But as a Porsche enthusiast with PCGB and giving passenger rides on track I must have created many sales .. Porsche can please themselves how choosey they are ... and I can please my self how critical i am of them. I am not asking for a discount ...
In the longer term I believe that they are being very short-shighted ... and I will continue to say so ... unless something changes.
Just look at all the flipped cars ....

I think the difference is you're looking at Porsche as a whole, whereas GT car allocations are specific to each OPC. The bottom line is that there are more buyers than cars so each OPC chooses who gets them and they'll go to people they know.

I agree it would be great if you could just walk in and order a GT3RS but it's never going to happen again. The GT car 'brand' has changed susbstantially since the 996 generation.

[Holgate86]

GRD_72 said:

Twinfan said:

We need more info from GRD_72 - do you have a signed order form? Did you confirm your spec?

£5k deposit paid, not spec’d the car or had a confirmed slot or spec lockdown date. I have received my invite down to PEC but for obvious reasons I’ve not used it yet.

That's exactly what my OPC wanted me to do, put £5k down for a slot on a car that wasn't even available on the configurator at the time. (Boxster 4.0GTS and they had no real information on the car's tech spec). I've never paid £5k deposit on a new car in my life before and wasn't going to start.

[Holgate86]

What I've never got with this whole limited run GT car allocation business is why would you sell a product at £150k when it's "worth" £250k on the flipped car market. Surely it would be better to make an extra £100k on each car as a manufacturer and kill the "flip" market, if the car is so popular used values would still hold up.

I would have liked a 718 Spyder as my last new car, I'm 60 now, and would have cherished it, but was told in no uncertain terms I wouldn't get one and was offered an imaginary Boxster 4.0GTS slot which I refused. As it is I've reflected on the car and decided that it wasn't for me anyway, but the whole Porsche thing left a sour note in my mouth. But hey, others love the cache of having a Porsche and others are just enthusiasts, each to their own.

[GRD_72]

Twinfan said:

GRD_72 said:

£5k deposit paid, not spec’d the car or had a confirmed slot or spec lockdown date. I have received my invite down to PEC but for obvious reasons I’ve not used it yet.

Odd you have a PEC invitation as everything else implies that you do not have a car on order.

There was a recent round of allocations so you need to hassle your OPC.

The PEC invitations are initiated from Porsche UK and not the dealer, as such it seems my name must be properly in the system. I guess I could have sat down & spec’d the car but it makes little difference to do that now or latter really.

I’m currently in limbo overseas due to ever changing covid rules & the black listing of the UK by some countries, I need 14 days out of the uk, then quarantine in my final destination, then another unknown trip length, so I’ll give it a few weeks before pushing the dealer!!

[Twinfan]

GRD_72 said:

The PEC invitations are initiated from Porsche UK and not the dealer, as such it seems my name must be properly in the system.

Are you sure? When I enquired about one a couple of years ago I was told to contact my dealer to trigger the request, or something similar. Unless it goes OPC -> Porsche GB -> PEC but then Porsche GB would need to confirm an actual order is in place, surely?