I live in Miami and bought a new 997.2 from The Collection which I ordered in 7/08 and took delivery of in November. This particular dealer has a huge undergroud garage with at least 150 to 200 cars in it of various makes and models like Porsche, Audi, Jag ect. Anyway, the point is they also have an outdoor lot on the side of the highway US1 and I counted 19 brand new 997.2's sitting there in the elements, 16 of which are PDK. I guess I am confused as to why they would leave these brand spanking new 997.2's out in the sun and rain when they have such a big garage. The only thing I can think of is there must have been dozens more in that garage and there simply was no room. Either that or they were placed by the highway in an attempt to lure buyers. The cars were filthy and covered with dirt and water marks. I certainly would not want one of those cars after it sat out there for lord knows how long.

 

Well, I don't think that's anything a good detail couldn't get out. But nontheless, it's well publicized that Porsche's USA sales are well below what they were last year.
Here's the full sales breakdown for Jan 09
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Porsch...-14237481.html
Check it out, the table breaks it down by individual models. The 997.2 update is probably helping keep the 911 sales afloat, but once the early adopters have it, the 911 numbers will probably fall further.

To put it in perspective, in January, Porsche sold a total of 1658 vehicles in the US. In January, Ford sold 90,596 cars and trucks, down from 156,391 in Jan 2008.

 

Cayenne is basically unchanged from last year.

911 is a speck above half of last year's sales and Boxster/Cayman is 1/3 of last year's sales. Ouch!

 

Dealers I have talked to say that, rather than start discounting the new card, Porsche is just going to reduce production. That's probably a good idea for Porsche - domestic car production in the US has proceeded at much to high a level for far too long and supply far exceeds demand.

 

Sad reality of today's economy

 

I placed a "Firm" order for an 09 911s in June (trading an 06 911S). Productin date kept getting moved out waiting for the sport exhaust availability. In early December it was finally available on Feb. builds, but by that time my 'trade' value had dropped $12,000. I'm well aware of what's happened to the resale and left over new 08 prices so I can't blame the Dealer; this did blow the deal, however. All I can say is that while now is a hell of a good time to buy a used Porsche it's also a hell of a bad time for those poor new car dealers - as the Miami guy witnessed.

 

I thought about this myself the last time I visited my dealer. Lots of 08s and 09s sitting on the lot with very few moving. I am not sure reduction in production will correct this anytime soon.

While this is a bit of a stretch; sending some to the crusher may be an option that no one will consider.

Excess inventory will lead to huge price reductions on existing cars, which will lead to huge depreciation, which will lead to brand damage, which will effect future sales.

 

Perhaps...
What is the average dealer profit on a Porsche 911? In other words, how much room do they have on a car that stickers out at $95,000?
Is it $10,000 between invoice and sticker? I'm just wondering how low the dealer can even go.
I would assume that you can't get a new 911 for less than invoice, right?

 

The dealers will go as low as how much they need cash to fund ongoing operations. The price paid is irrelevant - that money is already gone or owed, and isn't going to change whether that car sits or sells.