I think you may be starting out with a bit of a strawman. Porsche has always been positioned as an upmarket brand, not really “for the rest of us.” They’ve never been priced like cars that any hard‑working enthusiast could easily afford. For example, my 1980 911SC cost $34,000 when new, while the average U.S. worker’s salary was under $15,000 a year. By contrast, new MGs and Triumphs were around $10,000 at the time—less than a third of the cost of the 911.
As for the idea that Porsche has been hiking prices out of line with history, I’m not sure that’s the case. That same $34,000 in 1980 translates to about $130,000 in today’s dollars, which is right in line with the price of a new 911. Average annual salaries today are around $64,000, so the relationship between income and Porsche pricing hasn’t really changed all that much.
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Originally Posted by Deschodt
Porsche is facing headwinds these days, gone are the splendid profits per car... these days, China is not doing so well, the EV models are not selling either, and they're rushing to reverse engineer some hybrids into the Macan and 718s... They pulled out of WEC, too expensive (stayed in IMSA 'cause it's cheaper). They have a couple lawsuits ongoing as well, one on chargers they throttled down instead of replacing them... I feel bad about my uncharitable thoughts as a long time fan of the brand, but I find it hard not to think "serves you right"... In my book they were the brand for the rest of us, the sports car enthusiasts that would buy them used and grow to appreciate their engineering, and one day buy them new... But lately they definitely tried very hard to go upmarket and likely left a lot of us behind, and yeah, can't say I feel too sorry for their troubles..
They've been hiking prices on their new cars since Covid, sometimes many times per year - significantly. A relatively pedestrian Boxster S is 90K+ now at a dealer. No 911s under 110K... That also had a big impact on the used market and depreciation kinda ceased to be thing.. Somehow they enrolled me in some customer opinon panel and all the Qs I get from Porsche are stuff that makes me shake my head, related to AI, gadgets in the car, influencer stuff - nothing about "hey let's build a car that doesn't bore score a cylinder or puke an IMS" ... I think they have lost their way of late - which was making great sports cars that a hard working enthusiast could afford. The dealerships started to follow the Ferrari model - "if you want a nice rarer car, you need to buy several cars you do not really want"... Not doing that was what made them a good brand, I thought. If you can afford a 918 OK, I get it, but for a base GT3/GT4 also? You want a manual? go pound sand - we only order PDK...
Anyway maybe it's just me being a bit sore my dreams of GT3s (used) went bye bye, but I see more influencer posts from them than I hear of engineering solutions to make great cars these days.. Maybe these headwinds will help long term...
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