axhoaxho

Just got a letter in the mail -- with Porsche dealer envelope, Porsche logo letterhead, and typed dealer names... so I guess it must be official...

The newsletter says that in 2008 Porsche has decided to limit production on all models by 17 percent to keep with the brand exclusivity.

Does anyone hear that same news? And what does it really mean? As we know Porsche is out to make as much money as possible, I doubt the 17 percent limit production is all about brand exclusivity...

Any insights?

With best regards,

FlatSix911

Translation: Porsche expects sales to decline by 17% in 2008

Stephenkng

Right on

Alan Smithee

No, it means 2008 will be a short model year. The facelifted 2009s will be announced in spring and here in the summer.

FlatSix911

This is the same flawed logic that lead to Porsche to skip a model year for the Cayenne due to declining sales....

Alan Smithee

Porsche has continued to set sales records with the 997 year over year...quite the opposite of Cayenne. The 2009 997 will have more power...base cars will be near S levels, and S models will be near X51 levels...they are just trying to keep interest up for the 2008 models.

gota911

Expect to see 2009 model in June or July. 2008 model year will be about 10 months long (17% reduction X 12 months = 2 months).

911Dave

As greedy as Porsche has become, I don't think limiting production to maintain exclusivity is their style. More like, redirecting the 17% to satisfy growing demand in China. Weenieking has already announced Porsche's intention to focus production on that market. Or it could be a shortened 2008 model year as has been suggested. We won't know for a while yet.

sandwedge

For what it's worth, got new rear tires today (PS2's, 315/25's...... $1,100 mounted, ) and had 2 hours to kill at the dealership so a little gossip here and there. Bottom line......they're crying for cars. The storage parking lot in the rear which used to have at least 10 997's in partial plastic wrap is empty and the streetside display lot looks like it's about 10 cars short too. No discounts at this dealership or at best meager ones but good money for trade-ins. Was offered just shy of what I paid almost a year ago (from a private seller) without even specifying what I would trade up to.

axhoaxho

Thanks for sharing.

Hi, other folks, can you share if you local dealers have shortage of new cars too? It would be interesting to know...

Thanks in advance,

- Alex, 07 997S.

sandwedge

Alex.......sorry if I wasn't clear, they're short everything. New and used.

jplanaux

My local dealer has one new 997, one used (2005) (total) on hand.

RonCT

Come to the northeast and you'll have your pick of any model in any color. Do a search on the Porsche website to see what dealers up here have in stock. For example...
My closest dealer (where I got my car) has 1 2007 and 8 x 2008 911s in stock (among many others) plus 3 used 997 products.
Next closest is a tiny dealer, yet they have 4 x 2008s in stock (in good times they may have 1 or 2) plus 1 used.
A bigger dealer in Fairfield County has 10 in stock including a turbo plus 7 slightly used 997 products.
Another larger Fairfield County dealer has 15 in stock (2 07s) including a GT3 plus 8 used 997s.
Then there's Greenwich with 25 new 08s in stock including a turbo cab plus 7 used including a turbo.

So, that's 62 new 2007 and 2008 997 products here in CT including a turbo and GT3 plus 26 slightly used for a total of 88 cars to pick from in this one tiny state. One dealer in the Boston area has so many that they have 5 new turbos on the lot. One year ago almost to the day I took delivery of my car and at that time inventory here in CT felt to be much less than half of what it is today. I guess there's a feeling of desperation due to so much unsold product sitting on the lots everywhere except Florida...

texas911

I wonder if has anything to do with this article saying that 911 class sales are off by 13%?

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...s-cars-of-2008

Fahrer

I believe that Porsche is far less dependent on the US market for the 911 than they have been in the past. In addition, when considering the market prices and exchange rate ( $/ Euro), the US market might be the least attractive place to sell these cars when you are near capacity and not planning to expand. Th prices they get for these cars in Europe and Asia are much higher than in the US. My guess would be ten that this might not be a production limitation but rather a cap on shipments to the dollar region?