RM Sotheby’s has announced that its second auction at the annual Techno Classica Essen car show (which was to be held at the end of March) will be postponed to June 2020 due to the coronavirus scare.
“RM Sotheby’s today announces that its forthcoming Essen auction (scheduled 26-27 March) is postponed until the second half of June. RM Sotheby’s, along with all participants of The Techno-Classica Essen show, are working in consultation with the organisers of the event in order to establish a fixed new date. The decision to not proceed with original dates comes in light of the global COVID-19 outbreak and the need to secure the safety of the exhibitors, staff, auction and event visitors, and all decisions are being made in consultation with the health department of the German government.
“It is both our and the Techno-Classica organisation’s primary goal to ensure the good health of our customers, auction visitors and staff, while all parties are committed to reorganizing this incredible annual event as quickly as possible in 2020. RM Sotheby’s will do all it can to ensure the transition to a new date is as smooth as possible for all involved. We will be in touch with news of the new date as soon as it is settled.”
Techno Classica is a yearly ritual for me, so, assuming the fair goes ahead, I am heading for Essen. Having an auction on site is a handy addition and I will miss the opportunity to sit amongst bidders.
Last year’s auction – the first at Techno Classica – was held in a basement close to one of the furthest entrances from the centre. In previous years, this space had been filled by a mixed bag of enthusiast stands and trade sellers, none of whom one would place in the top tier of cars being shown. One had to leave the main arena to access this hall and, for those coming in from the main entrance, it was possible to miss it entirely.
Footfall consequently felt fairly low, with many people skipping the hall through no fault of their own. One UK trade seller I spoke to at length who had consigned a Porsche 911 Turbo to the sale was disappointed with the bidding, but that might have been caused by a high asking price and a general lethargy around the model he was offering.
Sotheby’s press release after the event painted an upbeat picture. “RM Sotheby’s wrapped up the company’s first-ever German auction, reaching total sales of €18.7 million with 86 percent of all 229 lots on offer finding new homes. The two-day sale represents one of the most successful and significant collector car auctions ever held in Germany in terms of both total value and number of cars sold. The auction took place in a packed room on both days and drew bidders from 46 countries, with more than 40 percent of participants being first-time RM Sotheby’s clientele.”
This certainly sounds like an exciting result, but auctions rely on generating some fever and it felt a bit like the fever was going on elsewhere. A better spot for the auction might have been in one of the spaces between halls, where the buzz is constant and the sound of an auction in progress would build on that excitement. Sotheby’s always put on a characterful show and it felt wasted downstairs in the basement.
Porsche Auction Sales Mix
The catalogue for this year’s Techno Classica sale included several Porsches. The online catalogue shows 217 lots in total, with 203 being vehicles and sixteen being Porsches: two water cooled 911s in the shape of a 2005 996 Turbo S Coupe and a 2014 991 Turbo S Coupe, a 1992 928 GTS manual, no less than eight 356 models of various types and five air-cooled 911s, including a 1977 Carrera 3.0 Coupe with little early history but offered without reserve (below).
The 2020 Essen Porsche auction mix is quite different to last year’s sale, which comprised 229 lots, 212 of which were vehicles. Seventeen of these were Porsche vehicles, including two tractors, one water-cooled 911 – a 2011 997 GT3 RS – three 928s and several air-cooled 911s. Everything sold except for two cars: both of which were air-cooled Turbos, which have been sinking from their overinflated prices in recent years.
While there is still decent demand for quality air-cooled cars sold by private owners and my Porsche valuation service including Porsche pre-purchase price checks has been busy all year, supply of the best examples through the used trade and auction market does seem a bit squeezed and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I recently contributed to a piece in Classic Cars magazine on the 993 RS being offered at Sotheby’s Retromobile Paris sale on February 5th: a nice street optioned car with decent history, which failed to sell despite an apparently sensible estimate.
Auction Results for Sotheby’s Paris Porsche sale
The Paris sale was quite a low volume event. Just 97 lots were shown on the catalogue and only 78 of those were vehicles, with five of those offerings carrying Porsche badges. Two of the five failed to sell: one being the 993 RS and the other a black and gold Carrera GT modified from new by Gemballa for a footballer. The sellers were a 904 Carrera GTS at €1.9 million, a super low mileage 996 GT3 RS Club Sport that found a home at €250,000 and an ex-Porsche 924 Carrera GTS, which sold for over €200,000. Clearly there was money in the room for the right car, so it seems that the RS was not that example.
Postponing the TechnoClassica sale seems like a sensible option, both for sellers who don’t want their car to fail to sell in public due to low footfall and the auctioneers who don’t want a flop on their hands so early in the life of an annual event. Of course coronavirus is also a concern, but timing is everything in Porsche sales and June may give these eight 356s a much better chance.
One has to wonder what will come of the TechnoClassica if Germany follows the lead of other countries and prohibits events gathering of more than 5,000 people at a time. My hotel is non-refundable, so there’s a good lesson to start with!
Porsche has just launched the new 992 Turbo S in a livestream from Youtube. The presentation was hosted by Mark Webber, with appearances by Oliver Blume and Frank Walliser, who last year moved from the racing department to head Porsche’s 911 and 718 product lines. Comparatively little was said about the new model: much more was made of Porsche’s environmental goals.
On stage with Webber were two 992 Turbo S Coupes in Silver and Dark Metallic Blue and a Turbo S Cabriolet in white with red leather: a hand-stitched extended leather package. Walliser described the trim as catering for traditionalists, being reminiscent of the cabin in the original 1974 911 Turbo (the 930). It’s maybe a bit more along the lines of later Special Wishes models from the 1980s, including the Turbo SE.
“Passion, performance, pure emotion: that is what Porsche stands for,” said Webber. “The blueprint for all Porsche design is the 911: the world’s most recognisable sports car. Today, the flagship of that line takes centre stage.”
If you like a bit of Phil Collins, you were in luck, as “In the Air Tonight” provided the soundtrack for a montage of launch clips filmed on a dusty desert island showing an eagle, a wind tunnel and the Turbo S in motion.
“The Turbo S is elegant, efficient, powerful and, above all, it’s completely cool,” is how Porsche CEO, Oliver Blume, summed up the Turbo S essence. “The new car has 650ps, that is 70ps more than the previous generation. It sprints from 0-100 km/h in only 2.7 seconds and has a top speed of 330 km/h (205 mph).
“The first 911 Turbo was a real sensation in the 1970s and each new generation takes it one step further. We make it sharper in design, faster and more efficient. The Turbo is part of our DNA: it embodies the core brand values of Porsche: dynamics, power output and speed. And it is a real all-rounder, perfectly balancing speed and everyday usability.”
Porsche 911 Turbo: S for Sustainability
It was inevitable that at some stage the boss would bolt for the pass, to head off critics of the Turbo S’s profile as the historic embodiment of profligate excess versus Porsche’s environmental strategies with the all-electric Taycan, but it was still was a surprise to hear the CEO suggesting that the Turbo S was sustainable. Turbo S is the flagship of a highly priviled luxury product line, and sustainability is not very high on the list for most buyers. If buyers were serious about personal sustainability goals, they would hardly be spending £160,000 on a 700+ horsepower performance car.
“The Turbo S product strategy matches our brand profile and core competencies. It is sporty, flexible and sustainable. Therefore we focus on emotive combustion engines, dynamic plug-in hybrids and innovative electric sports cars.
“With electric cars and hybrids, we avoid local emissions. Their share of market will continue to grow. By 2025, half of all new Porsches will be electrified. At the same time, we are optimising our petrol engines. With each new generation, they are becoming more efficient. This also applies to sports cars, such as the Turbo S.
“Last year, we launched the Taycan: our first fully electric sports car. In doing so, we took a big step towards our sustainability goals. Sustainability today represents an important purchase reason: one that is just as important as a brand, the product and the design. That is what our customers see as value added.
“Sustainability is therefore an important pillar in our strategy. The Taycan is a successful example: driving with zero local emissions in an all-electric sports car. The production is zero-emissions at our new Taycan factory. But not only there: in the past five years, we have reduced CO2 emissions at all Porsche production facilities by an impressive 75% per car. We also set our clear sustainability guidelines for our suppliers.
“So ladies and gentlemen, Porsche is taking responsibility for society and the environment. At the same time, we are driving dreams from the racetrack to the road. This is what Porsche makes unique and also, a really cool brand.”
You have to take your hat off to anyone who can stand in front of half a million quid’s worth of wide-arched toys for the wealthy and give a speech about sustainability. That said, this was a much safer strategy than simply unveiling the trio without an accompanying corporate environmental presentation. Yes, the Turbo S is a usable everyday supercar – perhaps the perfect example of such – but how many buyers will take it over a zero-guilt, Taycan with similar oomph and bombproof residual values? Can the 911 Turbo S survive in the drive towards electric?
Porsche 911 Turbo S: survival in the age of electric
The Porsche 911 Turbo S is undeniably a bastion of excess, but excess is appealing to a shrinking number of western buyers. This is even more true as the stunning 0-60 performance, which has traditionally been the sole preserve and main attraction of turbocharged 911s, is laid waste by the instantaneous torque of electric motors. No doubt the Porsche 992 Turbo S is another great flagship, but how long more will this flagship exist?
Perhaps some will claim that we have just watched the launch of the last great Turbo, but I doubt it. The one thing that all Porsche Turbo S models have shared through the years is distinct self-effacement: an understated, restrained facade that is never brash or trying too hard, like a Lamborghini or modern-day Aston. It simply turns up with a minimum of fuss and does the job reliably, time after time. If a 911 Turbo S has one truly sustainable quality with enduring appeal, that is the one.
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Eldest daughter is currently away at university and working her way through a marketing module. As much of my work involves marketing, this has led to some interesting chats; one this week was on the Employee Promise, or People Promise.
For those who haven’t been on the job market in a while, a people promise is a relatively recent appearance and may be explained as what brands put together to assure jobseekers that their personal values and the company values align. It usually includes statements on inclusivity, respect and support of diversity, career development and talent retention, environmental responsibility and sustainability goals and aims to provide fun and fulfilling work for all.
Porsche sets out the bones of a people promise in its statement of Porsche corporate culture and values. “Our culture is defined by tradition and innovation. We live in a performance-oriented corporate culture and emphasise strongly the fair treatment of fellow employees. Our employees are driven by their passion for our extraordinary products. They sometimes think in unconventional ways, and this is something Porsche supports, because we value independence and individuality.”
This sort of language is often overused (just take a look at the fashion industry), but my experience across Porsche suggests that the company is pretty effective at driving this mindset down through the ranks. The brand is veined with impressions of inherent discipline and strong moral values, and being finely attuned to this comes with the territory. One downside to teutonic efficiency is the transmission of stiffness or arrogance: something Porsche and its dealers are often accused of.
Porsche Brand Ambassadors: Discipline
Discipline is a core value at Stuttgart and that is one driving factor in the appointment of brand ambassadors. Porsche relies on a number of ambassadors: the official ones come from the world of competition, where discipline, stamina and controlled aggression are major components in success. Looking at unofficial ambassadors, Porsche has also pulled in other less disciplined influencers who offer a congenerous narrative and an extensive follower count. This spread of personalities helps Porsche’s messaging to reach many more corners.
The most widely seen Porsche ambassadors are Mark Webber and Maria Sharapova. The handsome high achievers from the world of sport have many things in common, including all-important success, astuteness and a “humble roots” narrative that mirrors the company’s origins. We see the same “humble roots” narrative in the Magnus Walker story: a self-made media sensation, crossing cultures and generations. Porsche has previously hired Walker to draw in the crowds, but stopped short of sending an ambassadorial invitation.
Porsche Brand Ambassadors: Tennis
Tennis is a fertile recruitment arena for the Porsche ambassador army and ambassador press releases in the category of tennis outnumber all other sectors more than two to one. Germany’s Angelique Kerber (below) and Julia Görges both serve as tennis brand ambassadors alongside Sharapova.
As one would expect for a car manufacturer, many ambassadorial roles come from the world of motorsport, with Walter Röhrl, Jörg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard (below) all serving as ambassadors alongside Webber at the recent Cayman GTS launch. While this may seem quite a senior mix, most Porsche buyers are no spring chickens and it is not an easy task to identify a younger ambassador offering similar attractions to Webber and Sharapova, who would also bring cross-demographic appeal and have no pre-existing arrangements with other manufacturers.
Porsche Brand Ambassadors: Youth and YouTube
The Norwegian World Cup champion skiier, Aksel Lund Svindal, was recently appointed as a Porsche brand ambassador and currently feaures on several Porsche YouTube videos. YouTube is the online hub for so much skiing and showboarding content, so this may be one route to a (slightly) younger demographic. The Australian snowboarder, Torah Bright, is another who has enjoyed some exposure as a brand ambassador for Porsche Australia.
Porsche regional centres often bring in figures from the world of sport for local promotion and give them an ambassadorial title. Female racer, Esmee Hawkey, supported the launch of a new British Porsche centre last year and Porsche uses German actor, Richy Müller, as a regional ambassador. Former works drivers including Hans Stuck and Derek Bell often turn up at motorsport gatherings – Stuck was recently seen at the GP Ice Race – but Bell’s close associations with Bentley mean he is a more occasional appearance.
Porsche Brand Ambassadors: Celebrities
“Actors who want to go racing” has been one steady source of mainstream celebrity content and unofficial ambassadors for Porsche, including a Le Mans association with actor, Patrick Dempsey and the recent series of YouTube videos with actor, Michael Fassbender. Building a brand ambassador is a serious marketing investment, so pop stars and celebrities who may go out of fashion, vanish from the hit parade or be embroiled in a drug scandal overnight are notably less attractive for a company with core values of integrity and sustainability.
That said, scandals may not spell the end for Porsche brand ambassadors: Sharapova’s drug issues did not preclude a continued association with Stuttgart. Sharapova’s recent retirement announcement includes her intention to continue as a Porsche ambassador and her popularity in Russian and global high society is an important consideration. When it comes to brand ambassadors, some things rank higher than others (and we all make mistakes).
While its true that Porsche products are the company’s greatest ambassadors, the use of human brand ambassadors extends the reach of its media output. However, it is also worth remembering that everyone who drives a Porsche plays some small part in promoting the brand. Using confident, high achieving brand ambassadors may be one way to override any negative impression left by the guy in a Porsche who cut you up yesterday.
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Sitting on the sofa after the Sunday night dog walk, flicking through the TV channels to pass a few minutes before some antiques programme got started (saddos r us), I chanced across the highlights from the Formula E racing at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has put an estimated $260 million into a ten-year deal to host the Formula E season opener: part of developing an improved cultural infrastructure and staking out a green future as it diversifies from oil. Watching the event, I can’t say that I was struck by the wedge. A quick search revealed that, despite investments of almost $150 million last year, the series reported a $29 million loss for its fourth season, bringing Formula E’s total losses up to circa $160 million. Wow.
Andre Lotterer on the podium for Porsche
Two races were held in Riyadh at the weekend. Porsche driver, Andre Lotterer, came second in the first race, but was penalised in the second race for overtaking a damaged car just as the race went to safety car. He was classified fourteenth overall in race two, with team mate, Neel Jani, finishing just in front of him.
Royadh (or Diriyah) circuit was a bit better than some of the Formula E tracks I’ve seen. The surface was dusty and the layout was tight in places, but that made for some interesting moves. I’ve not found Formula E particularly entertaining to watch in the past but, as I’m keen to see how Porsche measures up, I’ll follow the series for a few races more and see how my views develop.
Watching any sort of racing always gets the blood up a bit and Formula E is a roll call of star drivers, but the more obvious names don’t always finish up front. Watching drivers that I’ve never seen before taking on names I know well from other series is interesting, even if the combination of unfamiliar liveries and squirty tracks with choppy TV edits makes some of the action a bit tricky to follow. That should get easier.
Former McLaren F1 driver, Stoffel Vandoorne, had a good weekend in Saudi, finishing on the podium for Mercedes in both races after taking a surprise lead. “This is the most competitive series I have ever raced in,” Stoffel said. “One can enjoy pure racing here, as opposed to Grand Prix racing, which is a bit of a fake world in which everyone gets along well but above all has their own interests to defend.”
I hear what Stoffel is saying but Formula E looks plenty fake to me in places: fountains of money tend to have that effect. A friend has just moved from endurance racing into Formula E and she is not enjoying the culture that much. “I work between two silent accountants and a group of engineers, all of whom spend their time creating ways to spend truckloads of money. It’s bollocks.”
Sebastian Vettel has also spoken about being nonplussed by the series and claims many Formula E drivers are just in it for the money. “To me, this is not the future,” the four-time F1 world champion told a Swiss newspaper, as reported by WTF1.
“E-mobility is currently very popular in the world, but anyone who is honest and identifies with motor racing does not think much of Formula E. The cars are not very fast and many drivers who drive there tell me that the driving is not very exciting.”
I thought the racing in Riyadh was a bit more exciting than previously, but maybe I was talking myself into that because Porsche had entered a team. My mind is not made up as yet; I need to watch more of it.
I will either get over the soundtrack or it will put me off forever. Whirring motors and cars ramping over temporary kerbs sounds like an indoor electric kart track, but without the funs of watching karts in full drift around every corner. If the racing is actually good, then I guess it works out, but I’m still not sure it’s my cup of tea. That does not surprise me too much, as the series is still pretty new and everyone knows about new things for fifty year-olds. You probably know Douglas Adams’ rules on our reactions to technologies:
Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.
Formula E winds me up a bit on many levels: the money that manufacturers are throwing at the series instead of designing better road cars (Jaguar has thrown something like $40 million at it to date), the short races, the lack of outright speed and the small city tracks and convoluted add-ons. Extrapolating that bandwagon to the industry as a whole, the marketing surrounding electric mobility seems to vastly outweigh the amount of affordable technology: where are the electric superminis that do a week on a charge and cost £10k to buy? I’m ready to buy one of those right now – I’m sure most of us are.
As for the racing: well, my kind of racing pits head-to-head speed and reliability over races taking anything from two hundred miles to twenty-four hours and I don’t know that Formula E will ever match either of those things.
Maybe that is good for the planet, and I am all for that, but we are allowed to lament the slide that manufacturer defection will inevitably weigh on what older generations will come to call “proper” motorsport. People say that shorter races make the racing harder, so maybe I just need a shorter attention span. Maybe if this is all there will eventually be, we should either get used to it, stop watching racing or get into some kind of ball game.
I am fully aware that this may come across as some some old bloke moaning, but I did enjoy some of it: it’s just nothing like as good as what I usually watch! We will see how the season pans out.
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The wettest November on record came in 1852. After heavy rain through summer and autumn, records show that things reached disastrous levels in November, when large parts of the country ended up underwater. Even Queen Victoria noted in her diary that half of Windsor was submerged.
The rainfall in November 2019 is so far shaping up to beat the record set 167 years ago, so no wonder that Dario Franchitti’s Porsche 964 Speedster has popped up for sale through Bonhams in their RAF Museum sale in London on November 21st.
Dario picked up this Speedster in 2010 while driving for Ganassi and shipped it back to the UK when he moved home to Scotland in 2014. The four-time IndyCar champ was the third owner of the Guards Red Speedster after its delivery to the original buyer in February 1994.
I’m by no means an expert on the Franchitti collection, but he and I did discuss his Porsche fleet in a chat at Tuthills a few months ago. The main topic of conversation was the surprise restoration of his dad’s original 930, presented as a surprise after the return to Scotland. That was a very cool story.
While Dario has a thing for red cars, and the Speedster is certainly red with a capital R, a Speedster may not instantly strike you as an obvious Franchitti choice, but a manual 964 Speedster is good fun to drive. Dario previously shipped the car from his US base in Tennessee to California, for a 2k-mile road trip up and down PCH1.
“The fact that it was a convertible was good in California,” Dario told Motor Trend. “I did about 2,000 miles in a couple of weeks, so that was quite good fun. I drove it down to L.A. and up to San Francisco a couple of times while based at the Monterey Historics.”
I drove those roads through the redwoods in my Pacific Blue 911 SC and for sure they’d be fun in a Speedster. My 964 Speedster drives have all been ace and the 17″ Cup wheels, factory limited slip differential and the RS buckets fitted to this one just up the attraction. MOT history shows the 964 has only done a few hundred miles a year since coming back to the UK. A quick look online also shows that the car has previously been offered for sale, with no takers.
Chassis number WP0CB2965RS465353 appeared in the catalogue for the September Silverstone Auctions sale at our local polo club. Low estimate was a sensible £125k but the car failed to find a buyer. At least Silverstone’s pictures (seen here) showed more of an effort than Bonhams. It has also apparently been offered at supercar dealer, Joe Macari in London with no joy. So now it is heading off to another auction.
Some friends of mine once lived in a very posh squat around the corner from the RAF Museum. Hendon in a soaking wet November doesn’t strike me as the sort of place one would predict a Speedster to sell well. Personally I would book it for the auction they hold at Monaco Historic GP every May and watch it romp off amongst fellow race drivers and – HELLO – some good old-fashioned SUNSHINE. Easy sales are all about timing.
PS: note the good reg plate on this car: 111 XRF. I would take that off before the auction. It will not add a cent to the price for an overseas buyer (good odds) and is too cool to give away. Sell the car to a Euro buyer in Monaco and keep the plate for something else. Always, always, always take plates off unless they are of historic significance to the chassis.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
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