So, some insight specific to the allocation process of the cars as a customer to both brands - this is UK specific (we get fewer cars because RHD is usually a minority of the global production) so perhaps of little interest to those of you in NA, but I tend to feel this experience is relatively global still.
Today, as it stands - you can walk into the dealer and purchase any 911 you desire, with the notable exception of any GT product. 992 Turbo S are available at circa £8-10k discounts, and the rest of the range is available too, Turbo, GTS, yada yada. We’re currently in a bit of an economic shitstorm, so I’m guessing this has to play a part - along with 10% APR - people aren’t buying toys at present, so the dealers are trying to shift stuff.
911 GT products are a whole other bag, and I’ve sworn off the idea of buying them new, sadly - purely because the dealers don’t “play the game” anywhere nearly as well as Ferrari do. What does this mean? Well, they’re vague and usually will give you, at best, a “maybe” - meaning, “If you buy this Cayenne Turbo S for the family, and promise you’ll sell it back to us in a year, and then perhaps if you purchase this 911 Turbo S for yourself, and also sell that back to us in a year - and if you then buy a 911 Carrera S Cab we have in stock for your wife - we MIGHT be able to give you an allocation for a new 3RS, but don’t hold us to it!”
No, it’s not a hypothetical, I’ve been told as much. If you’re already in, you’re in - but if you’re out, getting in is expensive. The dealers prefer to sell these in demand cars to customers they know will come back to them, and split the profit after 6-8 months. So, in essence, it’s not particularly in their interest to sell to “drivers” that will keep the car for 2 or 3 years. Just less money in it for them. No, they’d prefer to sell it to someone that will take delivery, keep it a couple of months for appearance sake, and then bring it back to them so they can have another bite of the apple. Simple as.
Ferrari, meanwhile - will upfront go: “You want this? Buy that, and I will give you an allocation.”, and often times these days not even that, it seems.
I have a 296GTS on the way and 0 previous brand history. And I mean, new, used, whatever. I’ve never owned a Ferrari before. By all accounts, I was a walk-in - and after putting my deposit down, they flew me and my other half out to Spain for a couple of days, and let us drive the 296 on track, and in the Spanish mountains, put us up in a 5 star hotel, paid for food and accomodation, the works. I only paid £50 for some Ryanair tickets over to Seville. Again, never owned a Ferrari before. It was an awesome brand experience.
Porsche just sneered at me for asking about GT cars. Oh well. I count myself out of the game for a new one of those. I can’t wrap my head around pissing away £150k in depreciation just to maybe potentially have the chance at a 3RS. I like the Porsches I own. I will own a GT car someday. But it seems, only used. I’m fine with that.
So, some insight specific to the allocation process of the cars as a customer to both brands - this is UK specific (we get fewer cars because RHD is usually a minority of the global production) so perhaps of little interest to those of you in NA, but I tend to feel this experience is relatively global still.
Today, as it stands - you can walk into the dealer and purchase any 911 you desire, with the notable exception of any GT product. 992 Turbo S are available at circa £8-10k discounts, and the rest of the range is available too, Turbo, GTS, yada yada. We’re currently in a bit of an economic shitstorm, so I’m guessing this has to play a part - along with 10% APR - people aren’t buying toys at present, so the dealers are trying to shift stuff.
911 GT products are a whole other bag, and I’ve sworn off the idea of buying them new, sadly - purely because the dealers don’t “play the game” anywhere nearly as well as Ferrari do. What does this mean? Well, they’re vague and usually will give you, at best, a “maybe” - meaning, “If you buy this Cayenne Turbo S for the family, and promise you’ll sell it back to us in a year, and then perhaps if you purchase this 911 Turbo S for yourself, and also sell that back to us in a year - and if you then buy a 911 Carrera S Cab we have in stock for your wife - we MIGHT be able to give you an allocation for a new 3RS, but don’t hold us to it!”
No, it’s not a hypothetical, I’ve been told as much. If you’re already in, you’re in - but if you’re out, getting in is expensive. The dealers prefer to sell these in demand cars to customers they know will come back to them, and split the profit after 6-8 months. So, in essence, it’s not particularly in their interest to sell to “drivers” that will keep the car for 2 or 3 years. Just less money in it for them. No, they’d prefer to sell it to someone that will take delivery, keep it a couple of months for appearance sake, and then bring it back to them so they can have another bite of the apple. Simple as.
Ferrari, meanwhile - will upfront go: “You want this? Buy that, and I will give you an allocation.”, and often times these days not even that, it seems.
I have a 296GTS on the way and 0 previous brand history. And I mean, new, used, whatever. I’ve never owned a Ferrari before. By all accounts, I was a walk-in - and after putting my deposit down, they flew me and my other half out to Spain for a couple of days, and let us drive the 296 on track, and in the Spanish mountains, put us up in a 5 star hotel, paid for food and accomodation, the works. I only paid £50 for some Ryanair tickets over to Seville. Again, never owned a Ferrari before. It was an awesome brand experience.
Porsche just sneered at me for asking about GT cars. Oh well. I count myself out of the game for a new one of those. I can’t wrap my head around pissing away £150k in depreciation just to maybe potentially have the chance at a 3RS. I like the Porsches I own. I will own a GT car someday. But it seems, only used. I’m fine with that.