The whole truth about Cayenne sales

Agent001 submitted on 6/9/2003 Auto Spies Photos Timestamp: 1:14:53 PM

Views : 2,322 | Category: Misc News | Source: www.autospies.com

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The whole truth about Cayenne sales










Direct from the western front

















Direct from an insider of a large Porsche dealership

Dear 001,
 
Here's the whole truth about the Cayenne, from someone who intimately knows-- I'm a key insider in a large Porsche dealership.
 
    Before the truck was introduced on March 15, 2003 there was a tremendous amount of interest and pre-sale due to the long-fuse and extensive publicity efforts by Porsche Cars North America, and the auto press in general.  As usual, after the first wave of trucks was delivered into the pre-order bank, many people waivered on their orders, some due to the delay in intro date on the truck; and others because the first wave of trucks delivered to the dealers were ordered by the "factory guys" and accordingly, had some "funky" color combos like Silver with Beige leather, and most of the trucks had the unappealing 18" wheels-- many of the first Cayenne arriving were just plain unappealing.
 
        The trucks remained in short supply from around the March 15 intro date until the end of April.  At that point, demand somewhat stalled, probably due to very little advertising and promo on the vehicle being out there -- and the general perception that the Cayenne cost $80-90 thousand, when most of them are in fact, selling in the mid $50 - 60 thousand range and leasing in the $750-850 range. At precisely the time that demand stalled, Porsche started bombarding the dealers with inventory of Cayennes -- thereby sending dealers who were perennially used to having just a few Porsches in stock, and high demand, running for the hills.  Most of the smaller and medium sized dealers panicked and took any deal they could get on any Cayenne, except for the Turbo, which is only 10-12% of the total Cayenne build-- they still sell pretty well, but in small numbers.
 
        But then an amazing thing happened -- the people who took early delivery of their Cayennes started coming into dealerships with their friends, who had taken a ride in their vehicle, and the friends started buying Cayennes too.  This "second wave blip in demand" coincided with another huge tidal wave of Cayennes being heaped on the dealers, thereby creating a very fluid market, with the trucks beginning to sell very well, and  with customers getting discounts of anywhere between $2000 and $6000 off sticker, and the occasional good color combo truck with the most desirable equipment, ie- PCM (Navigation), comfort seats with presets, smooth leather dash, electric comfort package (steering wheel adjust and tailgate pull down) and 20" wheels -- those trucks often selling for list price.
 
        So in summary -- Porsche is not BS'ing when they say the truck is selling well.  They are wholesaling tons of them to dealers to be sure -- but dealers like us (we're around the 10th largest dealer in the country) are selling 25-30 of them a month now.  That's as many or more than the new Porsche sports cars of all descriptions that we previously sold per month.  More important, the customers that have bought the vehicles so far are giddily happy with them, and are in many cases, huge advocates of the vehicle to anyone who will listen. 
 
        Finally, in all the Cayennes we have sold to date since March 15, (about 65) we have only had 2 product quality issues.  One was the misalignment of the rear window latch, causing it to pop out of the lock when closed on a Cayenne S.  The second was a faulty pump on a Cayenne turbo, which caused the vehicle height adjustment (standard on Cayenne turbos, optional on Cayenne S's and not necessary at all unless you intend to extensively go off-road) to be inoperable.  It took a special order of a part from Germany, but during that time, we were able to rebuild the pump, and then swapped it when the new one came in.  No other product failures at all, and not even a hint of dissatisfaction with the Cayenne from any other customers that we have delivered.
 
        I must stress to you that this response is absolutely true -- not in any way a set-up or prejudiced by the Porsche factory (hell, I have not even discussed it with them, and will probably get a beating for sending it), and that is totally objective and based upon true experience dealing inside a Porsche dealership of some magnitude, with customers every day.  I'll update your website if anything materially changes as we go along.
 
Best regards -- West Coast Porscheguy.
 
Auto Spies perspective: We give this dude a lot of credit, for being open and up front with us.
 
That’s the best we can hope for a successful dealer/customer relationship and what we preach to our readers. If you’re working with a dealer like this, stick with them like glue. We never begrudge someone a FAIR profit. We just hate hearing the stories (and we hear LOTS of them!) of dealers taking advantage of customers.
 
Our only question then, is this only a west coast phenomenon (remember, California dealers are in the best spot on earth to sell cars and the economy is almost NEVER an issue, even if the rest of the world is falling apart)? Or is this the prevailing situation throughout the country? We would love to hear from dealers in other areas of the country to get their feedback (anonymously, of course). Send your feedback to rumors@autospies.com .

Another perspective from one of our readers:


May marks the second full month of Cayenne availability, and Porsche North America reported saleof 1388 Cayennes, at the same level as April's 1353 units.

Inventory, however, continues to climb: PCNA reports:


2531 units in dealer stock in May, an increase of over


900 units from April's 1619 units.


This is also reflected in Autotrader searches: today


(June 4) there are 525 new Cayennes advertised,


compared to the total figure of 412 you reported last


week.


The devil is in the details:


*Turbo sales and inventory stayed steady, so all the


inventory increase was in the "S" model.


*Some would be "S" buyers may be holding out for the


air suspension package, which is near impossible to


find on the lot. If dealers realize that buyers are


skipping over the steel-springed offerings and


ordering S models with air, buyer will find real deals


on the lots as the inventory ages.


*How many of these first sales were early adopters who


had been waiting for months, causing an initial sales


spurt?


*Inventory varies tremendously area by area. Look to


see dealers in slow areas sell excess inventory to


other dealers with low stock, as happened with the


Mini Cooper.


*On line dealer inventories are not necessarily


accurate, and may include cars ordered but not


delivered. On the other hand, the national inventory


figures reported my PCNA to the press are actual


inventory, so you can check the trend.


Dealers may be adjusting their business model. Is the


Cayenne, like other SUVs, more of a commodity than a


911 or a Boxster? Is there need to stock inventory of


an SUV? Dealers were used to doing business more on a


model of selling some cars off the floor but more


sales resulting from sending individual orders to the


factory. It may not happen with the Cayenne.


On a macro level, if sales holds steady at this rate


and inventory does not continue to grow above a 60 day


supply, Porsche should be fine.


Meanwhile, there are great opportunities out there:


readers that want a great SUV deal should check local


dealers' inventory. If there are Cayennes in stock


march down to their Porsche dealer ready to buy off


the lot at not much more than invoice. If none in


stock in your neighborhood, use the Internet and look


for a similar deal. Steel springs could save you a lot


of money, and as the shady used car dealers used to


say, "You can ride home today!"



 







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Agent001

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