Porsche Pulls Plug On It's Mid Engined Sports Car

[daro911]

Porsche is pulling the plug on the Carrera GT supercar only three years into its life, before it reaches the end of its planned production run.

Stuttgart only ever planned to make 1,500 of them but the 1,111th has only just been delivered -- presumably in the face of falling demand; there have been widespread stories of slow sales. In spite of that, Porsche has dubbed the car "the most successful high-performance sports car of all time".

Over half the cars made since its induction in September 2000 have gone to US-based customers, as will the last one, which Porsche will deliver in April.

It may not have sold well but it's a mighty machine: its mid-mounted 612bhp 5.7-litre V10 propels the £316,888 car to 60mph in just 3.8 seconds, and on to a top speed of over 200mph. The engine was based on a design that Porsche could have used for a Le Mans car, had it been so minded.

Innovations include a lightweight gearbox with features such as an inner gearshift mechanism combined with low-friction, precisely-mounted Flexball shift cables on the outer shift mechanisms, and a ceramic clutch. The two-plate, dry clutch is only 169mm in diameter, helping to give the engine and transmission a very low centre of gravity. It's also the world's first production car with a monocoque chassis and module frame made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic.

As for why it didn't sell, who can say? Early tests suggested that it wasn't as easy to live with as it might have been -- the clutch caused some issues -- but ask yourself: if you had £300k to spare, would the Carrera GT have been on your list?

http://www.dealer.autotrader.co.uk/14300/stocklist.htm

2004 54 PORSCHE CARRERA GT [/b]
2,100 miles, Metallic Seal Grey with Terracotta Hide. 1 Owner, Absolutely Stunning, £249,990[/b]
***************************************************************************

2004 04 Reg PORSCHE CARRERA GT TOP 555 Limited 3,700 miles, GT Silver Metallic With Black Leather. Satellite Navigation. Telephone Module. Bose Sound System. 5-piece Luggage Set. UK Supplied.
£255,000

 

[JCB..]

but ask yourself: if you had £300k to spare, would the Carrera GT have been on your list?

Nope! []

 

[Rodney Naghar]

Producing a supercar like that and telling everyone they intend to make 1,500 of them and not meeting your target is a bit of a joke. This run might have been popular/profitable....but what about the next model? With CGT's selling for well below list with the market being saturated, there will be a lot of customers with burnt fingers. Have a look at Ferrari. They keep supply down, so every supercar model they bring out is almost always totally sold out before they're even delivered.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: Rodney Naghar

Have a look at Ferrari. They keep supply down, so every supercar model they bring out is almost always totally sold out before they're even delivered.

Yep when it comes to making desirable exotica with strong residuals and demand Ferrari could teach Porsche's marketing men a trick or two[8D]

Carrera GT prices are falling as fast as the Enzo's are rising [&o]

FERRARI ENZO 05 Black/Black large racing seats, full spec, 400 miles, UK supplied, very rare £595000

 

[Michael Downing]

Personally, I'd quite like the C-GT's values to keep dropping like a stone.

Then, in a few years .... maybe .... just maybe ... []

 

[daro911]

After more than a year of rumors, false names and spy photos, the Ferrari Enzo finally made its debut at the 2002 Paris Motor Show. Named in honor of the Italian auto maker's founder, the Enzo is the latest special edition supercar to come out of Maranello. Past limited-run Ferraris have included the GTO, the F40 and most recently the F50 which celebrated the automaker's 50th anniversary. While the initial plan was to build only 349 examples of the Enzo, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo announced that 50 additional Enzos would be built for a total of 399. Pricing has not been announced, but it doesn't really matter "" the entire run has already sold out.

 

[Rodney Naghar]

Personally, I'd quite like the C-GT's values to keep dropping like a stone.

Then, in a few years .... maybe .... just maybe ...

I think in the recent edition of GT Purely Porsche, they were saying that there was talk from a few industry experts that the CGT could drop to £150k this year! That's only a bit more than 959 money!

 

[Michael Downing]

ORIGINAL: Rodney Naghar
I think in the recent edition of GT Purely Porsche, they were saying that there was talk from a few industry experts that the CGT could drop to £150k this year!

Still a fair way to go to reach my budget, though .... []

 

[Guest]

If I remember rightly, I think Porsche said they would only build the CGT if they could get 1000 orders, and were initially thinking of 1200 when it looked like 1000 was going to be possible.
I think this was subsequently raised to 1500.
The requirement was to make enough to cover the costs, since they did not want to repeat the 959 where they lost money.
People questioned at the time whether it was too many and what whether it would not be exclusive enough.

I don't really know how Ferrari make money from such small production runs, but maybe their overheads are lower (since I am not sure they do quite as much testing).

Anyway, what will Porsche do with the space in the factory.
I thought is it was going to be used for the 4 door Porsche when the CGT ran out.
But if the CGT production ends early, does this mean they are pulling another model forward?

Maybe they need the resources for more racing activities?

Maybe they just need somewhere to store and count all the cash they are making.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

The CGT line takes up very little space at Leipzig.
On the last tour there it was noted that the factory space had increased fairly significantly from the time of our first visit. This is all taken up with Cayenne production (not the actual line, but the peripheral things around it). Unless the Cayenne numbers reduce significantly, it would be more likey that the Panemera would have it's own assembly line. Of course it might be that the commonality between the Cayenne and the Panemera is such that the same line can be used for both (in the same way that the Boxster and 997 are made on the same line at Weissach) but that would probably require 2 shifts to run the current line with more numbers.
Then again they might just move everything around and make it work more efficiently [].

Whatever, the CGT line is insignificant in terms of production space, and would not allow for a "mass-produced" vehicle such as the Panemera.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: Mark Bennett

Whatever, the CGT line is insignificant in terms of production space, and would not allow for a "mass-produced" vehicle such as the Panemera.

[] How about a limited run of Caymen RS's