The Porsche 911 GT3 Touring Is A Death Knell For Porsche Speculators

It’s a good news week for those of us getting sick and tired of rich car prospectors buying into new limited-edition Porsches only to immediately sell them for a massive profit
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Porsche has earned some good press this week. With the Frankfurt Motor Show open to the public until next weekend, one of the Stuttgart sports car maker’s cars has caught our eye for more than the usual numerical and ideological reasons.

Yes, the 911 GT3 with Touring Package, otherwise clipped to ‘GT3 Touring’, is fast, and yes, the option pack is centred around a manual gearbox with subtler styling, but that’s not what makes Porsche this week’s real MVP. Hose yourself down with its 3.9-second 0-62mph launch and its 196mph top speed all you like, but these are numbers you can find elsewhere in the 911 stable. The most important thing about the 911 GT3 Touring is what it isn’t.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Touring Is A Death Knell For Porsche Speculators

It isn’t a limited edition. It’s simply a manual GT3, the like of which customers were crying out for after Porsche switched the 991.1 GT3 to PDK paddleshift only. It’s also a more luxurious and friendlier place to sit than the regular GT3 with its sea of Alcantara, and there’s something wonderfully retro about that; something that feels like an echo of the original, classic 911. But, again, it isn’t a limited edition.

That means the 911 R, which at the time of its release a couple of years ago was a halo of ultra-desirable manual GT3-dom, is no longer the unique star it was. Back then, with the GT3 having lost its manual ‘box, apparently for good, all 991 examples of the R sold like the hottest of cakes.

Almost as soon as they were sold out, delivery-mileage examples started popping up in the classifieds for double and triple what they cost new. We hated it, you hated it, and Porsche hated it. So much, in fact, that the GT3 has got its manual back and the GT3 Touring has joined it to give buyers more or less what the 911 R could, but for little more than a quarter of the sickening prices the latter has changed hands for. Fair enough, the R was based on the GT3 RS and is slightly faster, but values will surely have to take a hit.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Touring Is A Death Knell For Porsche Speculators

This new interpretation of the GT3, then, without the big wings and racecar Alcantara surfaces, is the best of all worlds. The Touring blends the 4.0-litre race-derived flat-six and its 497bhp clout, the comfort and confident luxury of a regular 911 and the security of knowing that, if you have the money, you can simply go to a dealer in your own time and order one. It won’t drive any worse for not being part of a 991-car limited edition, and residual values are likely to stay high regardless.

Of course, Porsche might only be unhappy about hugely inflated used prices because it doesn’t get any of that extra profit itself, but by all accounts the company is hardly struggling, financially. Whether you take this cynical viewpoint or not, with the GT3 Touring Porsche has got another money-spinner on its hands. The Porsche speculators or traders who haven’t yet shifted their 911 Rs must be crying into their wine cellars.

This is a clear signal from Porsche that if its customers want something, it will build it, and earn the profit the right way. Speculators? They might want to start looking elsewhere. Good riddance.

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Comments

Anonymous

911r for people who want a 911r that isnt quite a 911r so they dont have to pay for a 911r

Sounds good

09/17/2017 - 08:56 |
212 | 0
Anonymous

I think they should havenput a wing on it that looks exactly like the first rs lightweight

09/17/2017 - 09:02 |
6 | 4
Ali Mahfooz

Ze Germans never disappoint. 😎👍

I wonder where these ‘Speculators’ go to to learn about flipping new cars for profits. Maybe a school called “Flipping profit”. :P

09/17/2017 - 09:06 |
68 | 0
Anonymous

Ahhhhh. Porsche learning the hard way that if people will pay double on the secondary market, then they will happily pay the right price to the manufacturer.

09/17/2017 - 11:09 |
30 | 0
Matthew Henderson

What I want Porsche to make out of the 991.2 is an hommage to the original 1970’s 2.7 RS, including ducktail and striping, just like they did with the 997 (Sport Classic RS)

09/17/2017 - 11:22 |
20 | 0

sport classic was not an rs

09/17/2017 - 20:48 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

Screw you “speculators”! We just want a Porsche that has a stick and third pedal, but you buy all the remaining stock, and sold to us for 3 times the price, you are clearly killing our passion for manual transmissions. Our love for manuals will never fade!

09/17/2017 - 12:13 |
22 | 0
DementedMonkeys

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

“We” just want as in “I tried to put a deposit on a new manual Porsche but they were all reserved” or as a keyboard warrior who drools on YT videos about cars? :p

09/19/2017 - 18:52 |
4 | 4
Anonymous

What makes the 911r expensive is that its a limited run car and its manual? 😑

09/17/2017 - 13:43 |
2 | 6
5:19.55

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

It was the fastest manual 911 at the time, making it the driver focused 911

09/17/2017 - 22:05 |
0 | 0
HAYABUSA

Considering Porsche profits considerably from speculation it seems rather like a PR stunt to me ; but hey I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt :)

09/17/2017 - 17:02 |
10 | 0

VAG is all about business and marketing. Porsche is nothing more, nothing less.

09/19/2017 - 18:51 |
2 | 2
5:19.55

Weirdest of all that are porsche ‘’purist’’ that want. 911 gt3 with manual but think that fitting a cvt in a type r is a good idea. Why do nobody here feels like making a post about why the 911 gt3 should be fitted with a cvt

09/17/2017 - 22:08 |
4 | 2

I went through all the BS to register to tell you how badly I want to smack you for your opinion- a cvt in a 911?!? It’s people like you who are tying the world we live in.

09/18/2017 - 03:40 |
4 | 2

CVTs are bad either eay

09/18/2017 - 04:29 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

They should create a blacklist for special editions.
If you buy one, then immediately sell it on, you shouldn’t be allowed to buy a special edition ever again.
It’s not like Porsche can’t afford to do that, and it’ll mean only people who actually want to drive the specials will get them.

09/18/2017 - 08:12 |
2 | 0
Nobody

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I think they’ve hinted at a blacklist before.

09/19/2017 - 18:46 |
0 | 0