Porsche won't bring in the final 200-plus Carrera GT supercars planned for the United States - and, surprisingly, dealers couldn't be happier. "I'm thrilled," says Jerry Nelson, owner of Schneider + Nelson Porsche in West Long Branch, N.J. "From the beginning I thought there were too many being built." Porsche says the $440,000 car won't meet 2006-model requirements for smart airbags, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wouldn't grant a waiver. "It's a business decision," a Porsche spokesman says. "The cost of engineering the two-stage airbags and recrashing the cars just to make them model-year 2006 cars just doesn't make sense." Porsche is cutting total output of Carrera GTs to 1,250 units, from 1,500. Most of the 250 dropped units would have gone to the United States, the spokesman says. Since the Carrera GT went into production in January 2004, 396 have been sold in the United States through July. Dealers say keeping the numbers down will help keep values high. Nelson says Porsche initially told dealers it would build only 1,000 and charge $399,000. "We let that word get out to our customers, but then the number went up to 1,500 and $440,000," he says. Many prospects view the car "as an investment," Nelson says, and asked why Porsche was building so many Carrera GTs, when Ferrari usually only makes 400 or so when it has a limited-edition car.
2 stage airbag is the excuse? Good for P for realizing they flooded the market, but it's a bit late. Nevertheless, good to know. At least the dealers won't be scrambling as hard t oget them out. --Dan
Yep, flooded the market too quickly and now they won't sell. Too bad that one of the best overall exotics won't be here anylonger.
i aswell always thought 1,500 was way way to many cars being produced. But are you sure this is true? I was told all 1,500 cars had been ordered already. Therefore a customer just doesnt resieve his car? Doesnt add up. Do you have any more infromation on this?
1500 were ordered by dealers, many of whom did not have buyers lined up. The airbag story is just a cover story. Porsche was nuts to thing they could sell that many $450,000 cars. We have discussed this before, see: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67076
From the newest AutoWeek: Thanks to new 2006 smart airbag requirements, the 200-plus Porsche Carrera GT's slated for our showrooms in 2006 will no longer be coming. Porsche said the cost of engineering two-stage airbags and having to crash cars again for certification didn't make business sense. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration denied Porsche's request for a waiver. Since production began in January 2004, 396 Carrera GTs have been sold in the States.
Yeah right......re-engineering something that is going into every other car anyways.....heh. Now if they'd only stop using customers as Beta testers for PCCB brakes among other things. I received my latest issue of Christophorus today and there was a picture of the 100,000th Cayenne being rolled out of Leipzig. Kinda makes you wonder.
Just think, in less than 10 years, there will be a picture of the 100,000th Panamera or what every they're going to call the 4 door in that magazine...
