By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Detroit. It’s no secret that Porsche has leveraged its brand cachet for all it's worth. The once-humble little car company founded on the idea of building lithe sports cars has grown into an automotive touchstone and one of the most profitable car companies in the world.
That Porsche was forced to stray far from its roots, however, was inevitable. After all, building legendary sports cars and fantastic racing cars – and achieving major racing victories across the globe – could only take the company so far before the realities of survival became the single most important issue facing the company.
Becoming part of the VW Group juggernaut allowed Porsche to have a solid foundation of financial stability, but even that wasn’t enough. So, the company embarked on a strategy that Porsche operatives believed would allow it to survive – and thrive – well into the future. Starting with the Cayenne SUV and further expanded with the Macan SUV, Porsche focused on the hottest market segment and made the transition from being a sports car maker that happened to dabble in SUVs, to an SUV maker that happened to still build sports cars for the True Believers willing to invest in the brand. And now, Cayenne and Macan account for more than 60 percent of Porsche sales worldwide.
But being part of the VW Group has brought new pressure to bear on Porsche. VW is going all-in on electrification of its vehicle lineup, and Porsche is expected to contribute mightily to that effort. Which is why the company is offering its new, fully electric Taycan. But there’s proof that this transition is going to be costly for Porsche, because the company is pulling the plug on its factory-supported Porsche 911 RSRs in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the end of the season. The symbolism of this move was hard to miss. Porsche is walking away from its raison d’etre – competing at the highest level of major league sports car racing – in order to devote all of its engineering focus and energy to building more EVs throughout its product lineup. That Porsche still makes brilliant sports cars – the 718 and 911 - is duly noted, and they will for years to come. Slowly but surely, however, Porsche is transforming into something else altogether, and where the company will end up will be interesting to watch.
One thing that will never change at Porsche, apparently, is the fact that they employ the most creative – and flat-out usurious – pricing and option structure in the business, which is the reason it is one of if not the most profitable car company in the world. Now, to be clear, I have no problem with car companies making money; it’s the name of the game, in fact. But Porsche’s pricing approach has been to gouge both its True Believer enthusiasts and its new SUV aficionados with equal ruthlessness. It’s nothing short of a Master Class in Greed.
For today’s discussion, I will give just one example of Porsche’s prodigious fleecing of its customers, but you can certainly extrapolate this across its entire product lineup. Let’s take a close look at the new Porsche Cayenne GTS Coupe, which has experienced saturated automotive media coverage of late.
To call the Cayenne GTS Coupe a “coupe” is disingenuous, at best, because it’s just a four-door Cayenne with a slightly faster back, and less rear headroom. But this trend is not new, as BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been flogging this notion for years. I guess some would could call it “sporty,” but I loathe that description when it comes to automobiles, so I’ll just leave it here.
The new Cayenne GTS Coupe has a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with 453HP and 457 pound-feet of torque, coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive. It also weighs just under 5,000 lbs. So, there’s that. It has a lot of other stuff, too, which I’m not going to get into. But the base price is a staggering $111,850 with destination charges included.
So, let’s build our Cayenne GTS Coupe from there. I think I want the optional color, “Chalk.” That’s an extra $3150. Adding the 22” Cayenne Sport Classic wheels in High Gloss Black (includes wheel arch extensions in exterior color) will set you back $2770. I will go with the 8-way Sport Seats in Black Leather, which is not extra (wow.)
From there I’m going to add the Lightweight Sport Package, which includes the Sport Design Package in exterior color; Carbon Interior Package; Heated Multifunction Sport Steering Wheel in Race-Tex; Carbon Fiber Roof; 22" GT Design Wheels in Satin Platinum; Leather Interior in Black/ Silver Houndstooth; Air intake grilles in Matte Black; Airblades in Matte Black; Rooflining in Race-Tex; Rear diffuser in Carbon Fiber and a Sport Exhaust System with Center Mounted Tailpipes, all for – gulp - $9140.
Adding the Assistance Package, which consists of Surround View; Head-Up Display; Porsche InnoDrive incl. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Traffic Jam Assist; Lane Keep Assist (LKA) incl. Traffic Sign Recognition and Night Vision Assist adds $6250.
Odds and ends? Upper rear wing in High Gloss Black: $570. Exterior mirrors painted in High Gloss Black: $660. Under door puddle light projectors: $330, (but requires the addition of Ambient Lighting for $430). Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC): $3590. Rear Axle Steering including Power Steering Plus: $1620. LED-Matrix Design Headlights in Black incl. Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus (PDLS+): $1200. Auto Dimming Mirrors (Seriously?) $420. Comfort Access: $940. Vehicle Keys Painted (Chalk) including One Key pouch in leather: $540. Power Sunblind for rear side windows: $450. Central Tachometer in Chalk: $420. Cargo management System: $420. Smartphone compartment with wireless charging: $690. And Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System: $7000.
All for a grand total of $150,190. And I left a whole bunch of other stuff off the list that could have been added too. Remember, the base price started at $111,850. Porsche has single-handedly created and refined this way of fleecing its customers over decades, charging for every detail that other luxury manufacturers regularly make standard. Oh sure, other manufacturers aren’t blameless in all of this, because they have been doing it for years as well. But none of them have mastered the art of extracting mountains of cash from its True Believer faithful like Porsche has. In fact, to paraphrase one of its ancient advertising themes, Nothing – and no other car company – comes even close.
Is Porsche to blame that a lot of its buyers gobble up the Porsche option list like patrons of an all-you-can-eat Las Vegas buffet? No, of course not. But then again, to me it says a lot about the cynicism within Porsche – that they relish the fact that they can gouge their customers with impunity and extract mountains of money from buyers who just can’t help themselves and who long to be the Biggest Tools in the Shed.
It’s a Master Class in Greed brought to you by Porsche. And it’s pathetic.
As for me, if I were in the market for a high-performance SUV (I'm not), I would take a long, hard look at ordering a new 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat with 710HP, which will probably cost easily half as much.
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.