#36 - The Preuninger Effect

We all have that one friend who is nauseatingly good at everything. Not only are they academically astute but they are equally potent at sports, in social settings and generally just winning at life. You want to hate them, but all you can really do is be in awe.

In an automotive context, the closest thing to that friend is a Porsche GT product. For decades now, the folks in Weissach have monopolized the high performance sports car market and it’s a mammoth feat when you put it into the context of how many other Tom, Dick and Harry’s there are out there trying to do the same thing.

So what is it that gives them their competitive edge……what’s their secret sauce?

The answer is actually a gentleman called Andreas Preuninger. Now Andy, (or Mr GT3 as he is affectionately known) is the Mr Miyagi of sports cars. Under his watchful eye as high performance car manager, Porsche have managed to build a product offering tailored to the enthusiast like nothing available on the market today. His CV includes everything from 996 GT3 RS all the way through to the recently released 992 GT3 and everything in-between. It is a remarkably impressive résumé but when you dig down into it, what has allowed him to create some of the finest sports cars of the last 2 decades.

For me it boils down to a couple of key ingredients;

Firstly, he has a real handle on the delicate balance between performance and practicality. You see in the real world, everything that makes a car go faster (particularly around corners) tends to involve sacrificing comfort to achieve it. Firmer and lower suspension, weight reduction……all great for lap times but often a little frustrating for a trip to the shops.

Where Andy and his team hit the nail on the head is by minimising the sacrifice his customers have to make in terms of comfort whilst maximising the performance gains achievable with the car. They make sure the car retains all the facets which make a great Porsche road car in the first place whilst adding the spice that makes them behemoths on track at the same time.

The net result; on the right tyres you could fire up a GT3 RS in the middle of winter and use it for the daily commute.

Next up is the accessibility of Porsche GT products. “Sorry a £350k GT2 RS is accessible?” I hear you say…..bear with me on this one. Typically when an auto manufacturer makes a lightweight or track special model, the price of said model creeps up exponentially. Let us remind ourselves that Renault recently released a £70k Renault Megane, BMW have a £80k+ M2 on the market and even a bogo Golf R can set you back north of £50k these days. Porsche on the other hand try to limit the premium they levy on their GT cars and that’s good for a couple of reasons. Firstly and most importantly they sell lots of new cars and secondly it makes residual values really very strong which appeases customers and guess what……gets them coming back to buy even more cars. A fun fact, the 981 GT4 has yet to see prices fall below where they were offered for sale new in the UK……pretty impressive.

Finally and maybe the biggest selling point for Porsche GT products in the modern day is their reliability. Whether it is a GT4, GT3 or GT2, customers buy them to use as Andy intended. Whether that be the occasional track day or spending your summers commuting between Spa, Monza and the Nurburgring. The reliability of these cars is sensational and running costs are not too horrific either. It’s really no surprise that most track days we attend feel like they are sponsored by Porsche. Literally two thirds of the paddock are made up of Porsche GT cars and the best bit…..they are all driven by their owners to the track at the beginning of the day and when it comes to packing up at the end, everyone takes off their crash helmets and toeing eyes and drives home…..with a big smile on their face.

BUT…..and there always needs to be a BUT in a Contemporary Classics Market Musings. After all, we need to be objective. It is becoming harder and harder to buy a new GT car…..and its nothing to do with the price. Like many car manufacturers these days, Porsche has a loyalty program in place whereby the more cars you buy from them, the more likely you are to be offered a special Porsche when they are released. Now that seems completely logical at the very top end….Save the 918 Spyders, GT2 RS, Speedsters et al for your Tier 1 customers. However, in the UK right now, if you want to walk into a Porsche dealership and buy a new GT4 without any Porsche purchasing history, you are likely to get told they are unable to offer you a build slot……and I think that’s really sad.

You have a brand and product which is on a daily basis taking customers from your peers but if they want to actually buy a new car from a dealership they are denied so because you have just sold your last build slot of the month to a chap who has bought 3 Cayenne Hybrids from you and thinks trail braking is some form of forestry exercise. I fully appreciate UK allocated build slots are a lot rarer for GT product than the rest of Europe but priorities for those build slots seems to be a little skewed.

Saying all of this however, that is literally the single fault I can levy against the brand. So thank you Andy and your team (I picture a Willy Wonka setup up in my head of Oompa Loompa’s building suspension arms), if the next two decades are anything like the previous two, we are in for some very special cars.

Happy Motoring,

Greg