by John Glynn | Jan 20, 2015 | Porsche News
In an interesting recent interview with Germany’s Westfalen-Blatt newpaper, Porsche CEO Matthias Müller was asked about the company’s plans to manufacture overseas, given the pressures which accompany exponential production driven by unprecedented demand.
“If the necessity does in fact arise, we will have to react. If an important market has obstacles such as taxes or customs regulations, you’ll eventually start building cars there rather than simply giving up that market. Up until now, however, we’ve seen no indications that we’ll have to do anything like that.
“Financially speaking, a new factory doesn’t become profitable until it produces 100,000 units. We don’t have any models that we sell on such a scale in China, for example. So, the whole idea doesn’t make any sense from a financial point of view. Nevertheless, we’re monitoring developments in various markets very closely in order to determine whether we might have to address this issue at a later point in time. If it comes to that, we’ll deal with it and come up with a solution.”
The Commander-in-Chief (above) was not pressed on the point by the bourgeois conservative newspaper (from Wikipedia – love it) and, while the transcript rings true with Müller’s straight-talking style, you sense a PR cloak on part of the picture. I don’t doubt that the boss is happy with things as they are, but generating 100,000 units could be possible if it was not purely a Porsche factory.
Porsche may build cars in China
Volkswagen sells well over 2.5 million cars in China. A VW manufacturing unit could build a Chinese Macan for that side of the globe, as part of a bigger production portfolio. With Porsche Macan using Golf GTi engines and who knows how many other Volkswagen parts, Macan will one day be Porsche’s biggest seller. Why would Stuttgart incur the risk and expense of shipping tens of thousands of cars from Germany every year, when a factory inside the Peoples’ Republic could just bolt them together and ship straight to dealers?
“We built nearly 190,000 vehicles last year,” says Matthias Müller, “which means we’re still not completely exploiting our total capacity [in Germany]. For the moment, there’s no need to expand our manufacturing facilities again.”
Porsche’s plants are recruiting and adding to production capacity. Porsche expects to add 3,000 new people in 2015, taking the total employed to 25,000. Consider the cost of supporting that workforce under EU legislation, add all the other costs involved in European production and how long can Stuttgart hold out against the economics of an overseas plant serving Eastern demand? It’s an interesting chess game of brand image versus bottom line.
by John Glynn | Jan 16, 2015 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Pictures have just been released of the 2015 Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid, three of which will be raced at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours on June 13-14, with drivers including Formula 1’s Nico Hülkenberg.
Weissach rolled the car out onto the test track for various systems checks in December last year, but serious testing of Stuttgart’s WEC challenger kicks off in Abu Dhabi on January 18. More testing is scheduled before the opening round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship on April 12 at Silverstone.
Porsche’s 2015 LMP1 car is said to be “a comprehensive evolution of the successful car that made its debut in 2014. It features the same innovative drivetrain concept consisting of a 2-litre V4 turbocharged petrol engine, an electric motor powering the front wheels, and two energy recovery systems.”
What has been dropped? We don’t know. Details will emerge as the season progresses: it will also be interesting to see what pace the car runs when it gets to Silverstone, how hard it is on its tyres and whether Porsche applies any changes in approach to quali and race strategy.
2014 was a mixed bag for Porsche in the WEC, with some teething troubles on track and a serious crash for Mark Webber at Interlagos. The team did manage a win with the 919 – Dumas/Jani/Lieb (above) coming home first in Brazil – but only after Toyota had clinched the World Championship, following a virtually flawless season by Anthony Davidson and Sebastian Buemi. Here’s to better results for the car and our heroes in 2015.
edit: Daily Sportscar has done a quick analysis of 2014 919 vs 2015 model, also making the point that Porsche has gone to an 8mJ Hybrid system which requires more cooling. The initial changes are aerodynamic – at least Porsche has its own wind tunnel this year.
by John Glynn | Jan 14, 2015 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
The Paris-Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition of 1894 was one of the very first motorsport events, and gave rise to many more inter-city races over low-grade public roads. In 1911, the inaugural Monte Carlo Rally took early motorsport events to a whole new level as competitors started at points all over Europe, racing south to Monte Carlo. The world’s first proper rally would demonstrate automotive development, manufacturer reliability and the resilience of its participants.
Fast-forward just over a century, and Tuthill Porsche is on the verge of its first ever Monte Carlo Rally. Racing in this first part of the five-round 2015 R-GT Cup, it faces competition from two worthy adversaries, both highly talented and equally as passionate about motorsport.
Romain Dumas: 2015 Monte Carlo Rally
Romain Dumas is a former Le Mans winner, and winner of the 24 Hours of Spa and 24 Hours of Nurburgring. A regular rally competitor in 911s, Romain is a Porsche works driver and pilots a 4-litre Porsche R-GT rally car for Monte Carlo. No change has been made to the 4-litre engine specification to bring it closer to the 3.8-litre cars.
Marc Duez
Marc Duez is a Belgian driver, highly regarded in European rallying. A former WRC driver in BMW M3, Toyota Celica GT4 and no end of Porsche 911s, Duez has claimed a number of top ten Monte Carlo finishes and is sure to be on form.
François Delecour
In the Tuthill Porsche camp is François Delecour: heart-sleeved legend of rally fans everywhere. A four-time winner in WRC, François has a “win it or bin it” reputation, which may not be entirely accurate but, whatever the story, he is adored. Tuthill has one word for Delecour: angry.
“François is an angry man,” said Richard Tuthill when interviewed at last week’s Autosport Show. He means it as a compliment. “Sleeves rolled up, let’s get to business, angry, angry man and a total legend.” With François to keep Tuthill Porsche firing along, Monte Carlo can’t come quick enough. Alongside François is Dominique Savignoni, with whom Delecour has won the last three Romanian rally championships.
Romania is a 50% sponsor of the Tuthill Porsche R-GT attack in 2015, with Richard Tuthill currently footing the bill for the other half. I don’t know many people who would be as brave with their money: Tuthill does not have an endless supply of cash and is well into this project already. Some might have left the car parked up for Monte Carlo and spent some money on classic Porsches instead, but that is not the Tuthill way. These are adventurous spirits, looking for the next thing in epicness and taking Porsche to the forefront of whatever that is.
In a fairytale world, François would have a small issue on the first day of the rally – maybe an off-piste in snow – find himself well down on Duez and Dumas and climb back up through the ranks before taking the win by four seconds on the final day. But there are no fairy tales in the WRC.
The politics of getting a quick GT car onto a rally stage alongside manufacturers who have invested millions of marketing Euros into making their hatchbacks look good are insane. Tuthill has a long way to go before its gravel spec R-GT is approved for stage use: an approval that has little to do with engineering. Anyone thinking the speed of the cars is down to the teams needs to wake up a bit: WRC status quo is not up for discussion.
Rallye Monte Carlo kicks off on January 19th and runs to the 25th. Some stages are up towards Grenoble, well north of Monaco, with weather ranging from -15 degrees with heavy snow to 9 degrees C and some sunshine. François Delecour will need all his wits about him if he wants to kiss a princess at the finish.
As for the gravel spec R-GT car, Chris Harris tested the car on gravel in Wales at the end of 2014. Chris is no rally driver, but he’s a capable racer who knows 911s and has driven every brand of hypercar for his popular videos. “This is the most exciting car I have driven all year,” he said. Watch this:
by John Glynn | Jan 11, 2015 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
Selling prices continue to climb for the best examples of air-cooled Porsche 911, and low mileage water-cooled cars. Looking at the buyers active at the top of the market, no impending disaster looms to their ability to pay the asking prices now commonplace for older Porsche cars. Add that to a burgeoning demand for one of the hottest investment spots of recent classic car sales and it’s small wonder that good cars sell quickly.
Low-mileage 997 GT3s and 996 Turbos in top class condition continue to do well. A recent 996 Turbo Tiptronic with just 21k miles (above) sold to the first person to view at £39,900: strong money for a 996 Turbo. That said, the car was exceptional and the buyer was sitting on cash, ready to go.
Sitting on cash is a situation many lucky people find themselves in at the minute, whether from bonus, downsizing a property, inheritance or just lots of hard work. Specialist UK dealers have a bundle of air-cooled rarities in their used Porsche for sale stocks, which may do the trick for investors.
My current favourite is this Porsche 993 RS Lightweight: a one-owner car just arrived from Japan with a paltry mileage on the clock. £270,000 seems about right, given where values have been in the last twelve months. Still a truckload of money, though.
I’ve never been a ’73 RS groupie, but this very nice 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Touring for sale – three owners in Light Yellow and beautifully restored many years ago – for offers around the £650k mark.
I’ve set eyes on less than pristine examples with nothing like the history of this car elsewhere in the UK, where sellers insist they have turned down bids of £700k+. Not because they don’t want to sell it: they just want more money. I could say that is pushing it, but then I’m not sitting on a proper RS with all that ownership entails.
Away from high-end Porsche metal, some interesting impact-bumper 911 projects sold over Christmas for mid-£20k: about the right price as far as I’m concerned. No shortage of armchair experts around to shout the prices down, but low-priced IBs are becoming harder to find.
by John Glynn | Jan 9, 2015 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
Below Zero Ice Driving is about to unveil a fleet of eight Porsche 911s for its busiest season yet. The cars shipped out to Sweden last week, with three mechanics, two support staff and a flurry of support vehicles packed with Porsche parts and a geodesic dome.
I’ve been promised a trip to the ice many times before, but this year it looks highly likely. The geodesic dome will serve as the hospitality unit on the lake, where new hostess Marine will ensure that Below Zero clients are well looked after. No press trip is scheduled for this year’s event, so a photographer will be needed to shoot the new features, making the trip in exchange for a session or two on the lakes. Look no further than yours truly to step up and fill that gap.
The courses have been just been cut into the frozen lake at Below Zero HQ near the Swedish ski resort of Åre. This year, the team will have ten miles of ice tracks at its disposal, and it is likely to need them Just four days are left open in the six-week season, and they look likely to disappear also.
Below Zero hosts everything from corporate events to driver training and special birthday experiences. The cars are bona-fide rally cars: three of this year’s eight car fleet have won rallies in recent times, hosting drivers including Travis Pastrana, Björn Waldegård, Carlos Sainz and Stig Blomqvist.
There’s some filming going on this year and talk of the Tuthill Porsche 997 R-GT car heading to Sweden for a bit of ice testing, but we’ll have to see how that pans out. If I had a bit more time, I wouldn’t mind driving the Cayenne up to Sweden and trying it out on full studs. Temperatures are hovering close to freezing here in the UK, but Sweden offers anywhere between -5 and -12 Celsius, a frozen lake and a dome full of beer. Tempting.
by John Glynn | Dec 21, 2014 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche has announced a series of changes to its motorsport programme for 2015. Next year’s schedule was set out at the annual Night of Champions, where Jaap van Lagen was awarded the Porsche Cup as the most successful private driver competing in a Porsche during 2014.
Van Lagen is in rarified company, as only the second Dutch driver in the trophy’s long history to win this prestigious award. The other Dutch champ was the great Gijs van Lennep, who claimed the first Porsche Cup from Ferry himself back in 1970. Jaap’s prize: a brand new 911 Carrera S. Well done that man!
This was a week with much to celebrate. Weissach enjoyed a successful roll-out of the 2015 Porsche 919 LMP1 Hybrid with Marc Lieb piloting. The first test is scheduled for January 18-22 in Abu Dhabi: hopefully will coincide with a trip I am taking there also.
Porsche Motorsport 2015
Great to see Earl Bamber get a works drive for 2015: another richly deserved step towards a very bright future. Bamber’s awesome performances in Supercup and as a works stand-in did the trick.
A pair of works RSRs will race in America, from the Daytona 24 season opener. Bamber will partner Fred Makowiecki and Jörg Bergmeister in car 911, while Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and Marc Lieb share the sister 912. No mention yet of what super-quick Marco Holzer will be up to next year, but he was happy to tweet this pic of the boys decompressing with slot cars:
Taking Earl’s slot in Supercup is highly talented Italian teenager, Matteo Cairoli. I’m excited to see what Matteo can do in Supercup against the 2015 Porsche Juniors, Sven Müller and Connor de Phillippi. Also new to Supercup is incoming championship manager, thirty-three year-old Oliver Schwab. The former motorsport chief at Porsche China takes over from Jonas Krauss, who is leaving the company.
Every year, new names join the Porsche works squad and every year I expect to see someone lose out. While it has dropped two Juniors this year – farewell to Klaus Bachler and Alex Riberas – Porsche still maintains the biggest works driver lineup that I can remember, and more names will join for Le Mans, when Nico Hülkenberg (below) slides into the Porsche LMP1. We’re all keen to see who will partner the German, and how he will fare at La Sarthe. No one is keener than Porsche CEO, Matthias Müller.
“Motorsport is the soul and principle of this company,” said Herr Müller. “The best and most innovative technologies in our roadgoing sports cars come directly from motorsport.” A sentiment echoed by Wolfgang Hatz. “For Porsche, racing is more than an end in itself. On race tracks around the world, we test and develop technologies that are relevant for our sports car customers on the street.”
For all the chat about racing to develop road car technology, some of us go racing for one reason only: beating the rest. If we’re not winning, we’re losing, and we don’t like to lose! I’m not that bothered about how many cars Porsche sells, as long as each of these boys races their nuts off, and hopefully brings us to victory. The 2015 team looks like a potential winner to me, as it must be to beat the awesome Toyota squad. Roll on 2015!
