Time to Pop the Bubble

Some of you may know that I really like Porsche. I love that they make cars for people that actually like to push their cars to the limit but also want to use them in the real world.

Limited editions like the 911 GT3RS and the brand new 911R are some of my favorite cars. Except there is one threat to their value in the car world and I’ll give you a hint: Porsche is making it.

If you guessed the 2017 991.2 GT3, you are correct! But let’s dive a little deeper into why this car will tank the value of the R.

For starters the car isn’t really that much of a revolution. It will have a bigger naturally aspirated 4.2L flat six cranking out 518 HP. A nice bump in the horsepower is met with a more aggressive rear wing (the trademark of Porsche’s GT3 series) and lowered ride height. From all of the spy shots, everything on the outside is pretty much the same.

Remember how I said that this could gravely affect the 911R, well here’s the deal: Porsche is going to take the R’s legendary 6-speed manual and shove it into the new GT3. The 911R was a huge hit since it offered a stripped out body and was the only, yes the only high performance 911, that came with a manual. It was an enthusiast’s dream produced by the geniuses in Stuttgart.

Well when the thing finally went into production, allocations were given to all of the Porsche collectors in the VIP program (anyone that bought the $1MM 918 and every single limited edition). Only about 25% of the 991 cars produced were sent to dealers. And oh by the way, the dealers were charging huge markups on the cars that weren’t even built yet. The base price of $185,000 was adjusted to an astronomical $500,000.

Better yet, in used markets, flippers are selling the cars for upwards of $700,000. I recently saw one for $1.3 million but was snatched up pretty quickly. And that’s just in the US! People over in the UAE and Europe are flipping these cars for $800,000-900,000 easy.

Here’s the stupidity in the market right now. This exuberance is tied to the car having the best engine with a manual. Well, when the new one comes out, these cars will take a nosedive in price since anyone can buy a GT3. Even though it takes a long time and there are issues with allocations right now since dealers are trying to screw over people who aren’t in the VIP program, a normal dude can get a faster car than the 911R with the same legendary transmission.

The point is that there is irrational behavior right now in the car markets. People are going to face a decline in profits when the new GT3 comes out. Even people who are selling the GT3RS right now will lose some money since the new GT2 is going to blow it out of the water.

But hey, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel! Flippers will still flip the 991.2 GT3 and the GT2 only if we can avoid the unavoidable recession scheduled to occur in the next few months to a year.