The First 2023 911 Dakar Sells At Auction

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Here we have it: the first 2023 911 Dakar to sell at auction brought about $120k over sticker hammering down at $340,000. Limited to 2,500 units worldwide, the 911 Dakar is a Porsche Safari enthusiast’s dream come true with its lifted ride height, knobby tires, and Rally Launch Mode. Personally, I’d 100% daily drive one of these here in the Northeast.

But the real story here is that this car has only been in the seller’s hands for one month, so you know it was always meant to be a flip. I’m willing to bet Porsche isn’t happy, and neither is the selling dealer. Although not verified, I have heard that this was a pool car and sold by the dealer to a good customer with the understanding that it was not to be flipped. Good luck getting any future allocations.

I was sitting with a Porsche GM yesterday, watching this auction with a few hours left, discussing how to address this flipping phenomenon as it's relatively new in the Porsche world. Many might not remember, but you could buy a new GT3 off the dealer lot at one point, sometimes even at a discount.

Many blame the “greedy” dealers charging an ADM on a hot car. Some do, but not all. And can you blame them? They run a business. If they sell a car at MSRP and it is immediately worth $150k more on the open market, they leave money on the table. Some blame “greedy” customers. But many of Porsche’s VIP customers have almost guaranteed access to special cars (for now, that program is ending) and are stout business people. How do you think they got in the position to buy a 918 Spyder in the first place? Can you blame them?

So, how do you stop the flipping? If it were me, I’d only offer Sports/GT cars as leases and restrict the lease-end options. It’s been done before. Other manufacturers have restricted certain cars to “lease only.” Many manufacturers such as Honda, GM, and Mazda have restricted selling leased cars to third parties such as CarMax and Carvana to fill their dealership lots.

OK, what do you do at the end of the lease when the customer can buy the vehicle for the residual? Well, if the customers love the car, they can just buy it and keep it. But if they want the latest and greatest, and there’s always a latest and greatest, a manufacturer can implement a rule that in order to buy a new limited edition car, they have to own XXX. Ferrari did that with the SF90XX.

But I digress. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution; even what I proposed above won’t make some people happy. I’d love to hear your thoughts. As always, you can reply to this email.