by John Glynn | Jun 1, 2012 | Market & Prices, Porsche News
Porsche has chosen Automobil International (AMI) in Leipzig to debut the 911 Cabriolet, new Boxster and Cayenne GTS.
“The AMI is an ideal venue for unveiling the new products in front of a domestic audience”, said Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Porsche Deutschland GmbH. “The domestic market Germany is a known quantity for Porsche. That is why, with our partners, we are planning to invest more than 100 million euro in the medium-term in existing and new Porsche centres”.
Porsche says current sales figures substantiate these plans. In May, Porsche customer deliveries in Germany totalled 1,917: up 24 per cent on last year. Cayenne alone sold 750 units and continues to be a domestic best seller.
Is bullish Stuttgart on the money? Well, the upswing defies a German market trend of reduced sales through May, due to fewer trading days in the month. Total German market for 2012 is predicted at close to 3.2 million vehicles, but Reuters says this prediction will depend on “further economic development”.
While PWC reports that German brands now account for 80% of luxury sales in the fired-up Chinese market, and German business sentiment has been rising for the last six months, consumer confidence in Germany fell for the fourth consecutive month in May, tempering hopes that citizens’ spending would supercharge the economy.
“It would be premature to believe that the German economy can maintain strong growth rates when the rest of the Eurozone is faltering”, cautioned Carsten Brzeski at ING Bank.
by John Glynn | May 27, 2012 | New Models, Porsche News
The Porsche Museum is currently hosting an exhibition that celebrates sixty years of Porsche clubs. The manufacturer has just announced that it will make thirteen special edition 911 Coupes: twelve will be sold to clubsters who win the right to buy in a raffle, and one will remain in Stuttgart.
The first Porsche Club was started in Germany in 1952. Porsche clubs now have more than 181,000 members worldwide. This is officially recognised Porsche Clubs, so doesn’t include people like me and many others reading this.
If one included non-club Internet forum members, and fans of the brand regularly interacting with other Porsche owners, on- or off-line, the number would be a lot higher. Remember Porsche has 4 million Facebook fans.
The Porsche Museum is showing twelve special cars as club anniversary exhibits, including Dr. Wolfgang Porsche’s personal 993 Turbo S (top) and the neat Type 957 Jagdwagen (above).
Stuttgart is “using the anniversary as an opportunity to thank club members for their steadfast loyalty over the decades and their deep commitment” by building twelve special edition Club Coupes. Based on special-order Brewster Green Carrera S models, the cars feature a Powerkit upgrade to 430 hp, the SportDesign package and colour coded wheels. They come with bespoke lettering, and illuminated door entry guards with the anniversary logo.
Each coupe will retail at €142,800 in Germany, plus 19% tax. Or $175,580 in the USA, also plus tax. The standard Carrera S costs €102,000 in Germany, but that is including tax. Sorry, I should have sat you down before that.
Prospective buyers have until July 16th to register interest on the Porsche website, before a draw is held to decide the twelve winners. You can be from anywhere except China or India. I have no idea why this is – someone enlighten me.
A dozen €143,000-plus-tax Carrera S coupes awarded in a lottery is not Cult of Porsche. But, if you’ve got the cash and this is your thing, good luck to you. The lighting is very nice in the promo pics.
by John Glynn | May 18, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
The number 11 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Manthey Racing took top spot in last night’s qualifying 1 session at the 2012 Nurburgring 24-Hour. Three 911s finished in the top ten.
Drivers Lieb, Luhr, Dumas and Lietz managed an 8:27 in night qualifying, over two seconds faster than the Mamerow Racing Audi.
The top ten in Q1 is a real mix: Porsche, Audi, Audi, BMW Z4, Aston, Audi, Aston, then the second Manthey GT3, a McLaren and Sabine Schmitz in another 997. Less than six seconds seperates the top ten cars, so it’s super-tight. The number 8 Haribo Porsche (above) finished just outside the top ten in P11.
Weather here looks cloudy but dry. That said, I am an hour away from the track in Bonn, so it could be flogging rain out there!
Qualifying 2 is just about to start, and then Top 40 Quali later this evening. More news later.
![Nürburgring 24-Hour Falken Porsche-Fest starts here]()
by John Glynn | May 17, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
I’m writing this from the Club Lounge on board P&O’s Spirit of Britain. It’s finally time to head for the Nürburgring, for this year’s 24-Hour race.
Ferdinand Magazine is following the Falken Tyres Porsche team, as it tries to improve on a more-down-than-up race last year. Falken driver Peter Dumbreck’s recent interview with The Sun newspaper put the situation into perspective:
“The good thing is that, in a very competitive group of cars, we are right up at the front with a tyre that has come on a long way in the course of a year. But you can’t just chug around 10 seconds off the pace. You have to push and that means you have to take these cars quickly.
“In a split second you have to make a decision about whether to overtake or where to overtake and not to lose time in doing it. And you are making that decision 30 times in one lap, because you will pass at least 30 cars a lap.”
Falken have a growing endurance racing profile. In the USA, Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers race a superb Porsche GT3 RSR (above), and have been fighting their way up the field. More teams are choosing to race on Falken tyres – the popular Haribo Porsche team at this year’s Nurburgring 24-Hour are the latest additions, and I’ve recently put another Porsche racing team in touch with Falken Europe’s head office.
What are the chances of a Falken victory at this year’s event? Well, they’ve got a car which has won in 2012 VLN, and four very capable drivers. Manthey had a run of luck with good reliability and competitor retirements last year, so maybe 2012 will be Falken’s turn. I certainly wouldn’t mind missing my return ferry to attend a victory party.
Follow Ferdinand Magazine on Twitter to keep up with the race as it happens. I’ll be doing my best to tweet the lot: should be plenty to talk about!
by John Glynn | May 15, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
This weekend is the 2012 Nürburgring 24-Hour race. I’m there with Falken Tyres Europe and in the garage with Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler, Peter Dumbreck, Martin Ragginger and Sebastian Asch.
As 170 cars take to the most famous racetrack in the world for the 2012 24-Hour, I’ll be attempting some live Porsche reportage through the weekend, via the Ferdinand Porsche Magazine Twitter feed, and blog posts with pics. It all depends on decent wi-fi availability, so fingers crossed for that.
One team that is bound to be in the news is Manthey Racing. Manthey will field four 911s with most of the Porsche works drivers amongst their pilots. This year, Manthey will not use the GT3 RSR, but the GT3 R. “Last year’s winning car has earned its place in the Porsche Museum,” says Olaf Manthey. “We will use two GT3 R (as lead cars). Both vehicles are cared for in Meuspath since 2010, and we have modified the cars over the winter to bring good performance, as the last VLN races have shown.”
Manthey’s leads cars run numbers 10 and 11. 10 is a Moskovskaya Pinstripes GT3 R, driven by works boys Marco Holzer, Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, alongside SuperBrit Nick Tandy. 11 is the Wochenspiegel Assist-liveried 911, piloted by Stuttgart’s own Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Romain Dumas, with former works driver Lucas Luhr also in the car. 12 and 14 are also run by Manthey: a GT3 MR and GT3 Cup respectively.
The team is guarded on this year’s chances. “We did win in VLN already, but that does not make us favourites for the 24-Hour,” says Marc Lieb. “The fast factory BMW, and factory-backed Audi R8 and Mercedes-AMG SLS show how close the GT3 competition. In changing conditions, the Z4 goes around corners as if on rails, until they arrive at the Döttinger Height so far ahead that you cannot challenge. Our advantage is the top speed on the straights and the fuel consumption. The 911 has a four-litre engine with six cylinders: the engine is the smallest among the top cars.”
This all sounds like sandbagging, but outright speed did not bring victory in last year’s race. Peerless reliability was Manthey’s route to victory. This year, their intention is identical. “For the 24-hour race, we check once every screw, every clip and every part, however small it may be,” says Olaf. “We started early with the complete routine inspections, well before our last VLN race. As for the typical Eifel weather, we are well sorted. Our company is located in the Rufreichweite Döttinger Height, and in 30 years based here, we have overcome every possible Nürburgring weather situation already.”
Last year’s 24-Hour really switched me on to modern Porsche motorsport: the Hybrid’s charge and the Carrera World Cup was the best racing I had seen in ages. Follow Ferdinand Porsche Magazine on Twitter, or track our updates here.
by John Glynn | May 15, 2012 | New Models, Porsche News
Porsche announces completion of the 918 Spyder prototypes. Dressed in camouflage reminiscent of the 917, development focus now turns to the relationship between the sophisticated driveline components.
918 runs a combustion engine and two electric motors – one feeding each axle – but has been designed as a plug-in hybrid. Though the supercar will contain 770 horsepower, its fuel consumption should be respectable at an expected three litres per 100 kilometres. That’s three litres per 62 miles, or .66 imperial gallons per 62 miles. 62 miles on .66 imperial gallons works out to 93 mpg on my calculator, so I might have this wrong!
“What we are doing with the 918 Spyder is redefining driving fun, efficiency and performance,” said Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Executive Board Research and Development of Porsche AG. “We have put all of our expertise and capacity for innovation into this vehicle.
“The operating strategies and the development of the software to go with them are one of Porsche’s core competences. Both have a major influence on the extreme driving fun to be had with the 918 Spyder, allowing a unique combination of minimal fuel consumption and maximum performance. The initial results of the driving trials are in line with the high expectations placed on the 918 Spyder.”
Porsche is also implementing a full carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) monocoque, fully adaptive aerodynamics, adaptive rear-axle steering and the upward-venting “top pipes” exhaust system. The hybrid hypercar is the perfect response to those who claim Porsche is now all about selling SUVs to China. Gotta love the corporate finger.
