MARKETWATCH
Despite the hype surrounding it, the hybrid 918 Spyder did not sell like hot cakes when it went on sale in late 2013, a hypercar insider tells us. But that was before people realised that ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’, says David Sutherl
Part of the trick of selling a hypercar is to build in its legacy before the first example is delivered, ensuring that when the usually limited production run ends, the car slips effortlessly from dream new car to legendary, super-coveted status. But despite Porsche being the purveyor of the world’s greatest sports cars, historically it has not managed that process well, as evidenced by its first two truly exotic Porsche road cars, the 1986 allwheel-drive, turbocharged 959, and the 2003 to 2007 carbon-bodied, V10-powered Carrera GT.
The former was underpriced, leading to an early and massive inflation in values, thus depriving Porsche of revenue that could have been in its, rather than speculators’ bank accounts. By contrast the latter was too expensive for the time, at £310,000, leaving Porsche unable to find buyers for all 1500 Carrera GTS, and cutting the run to 1270.
It seemed that Porsche had for a third time misjudged pricing when, after an extended period of dripfeeding information to the press, it finally launched the sensational hybrid 918 Spyder in late 2013, priced at around £850,000 before options. A total of 918 cars were to be built, and wealthy customers were expected to form a chequebook flapping queue.
But strip away the “shock and awe” factor of a car that could make 62mph in under three seconds but which was clean enough to side step the London Congestion Charge, and you found a model whose order book was much slimmer than Porsche wanted, according to one hypercar sales expert, Tom Jaconelli of Surrey-based Romans International. ‘When they first came out they couldn’t sell them,’ he claims. ‘They weren’t just being sold to favoured customers. We could have bought one – anyone walking into a showroom could have bought one.’
But notice Tom is talking in the past tense – the situation has now entirely reversed, and the rate at which 918 values are heading into the stratosphere almost makes the Spyder’s blistering performance seen snail-like by comparison. ‘Everyone assumed they’d lose a load of money on them – but as soon as they were all gone, in about late 2014, that’s when people started wanting them,’ Tom recalls.
‘In this market when everything is dropping, they’re going against the grain. We’ve sold six or seven and they go for £1m to £1.2m, and in the last six months they’ve come up another £100,000.’ Presently Romans has one 918 for sale, a one-owner, UK supplied car with 1065 miles and in Basalt Black with Onyx Black leather, priced at £1.25m.
918 values had been quietly minding their own business, the cars usually advertised with a discreet “price on application” note – until August when the first example to be delivered in California popped up at the RM Sotheby’s Pebble Beach auction in mid August and set a record auction price of $1,842,500 (about £1,437,600) including buyer’s premium. This 1189-mile car, also in Basalt Black Metallic with an Onyx Black interior highlighted by Acid Green piping, was ordered early, in March 2011, and delivered in August 2013 to its one and only owner, in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
The price exceeded the upper band of the pre-sale estimate by $242,500 (£189,200), and a high profile sale like that can only further fuel prices. ‘The US market is not always aligned with Europe, and sometimes people can get a bit carried away at auctions, but it’s a good steer,’ Tom comments. ‘The market is so different to what it was in 2014 – there are now a lot more people buying for investment.’
Seeing as we are talking about very expensive Porsches, what other models joined the “million dollar club” in the hedonistic atmosphere on the Monterey peninsula? We’re used to the most sought after 356s, usually the mid 1950s Speedsters making several hundred thousand dollars, and the 1954 Super Speedster coming on to the market after 47 years in one family and sold by Gooding & Company for $352,000 (£275,000) performed as expected. But the early, 356 1500 with Reutter bodywork not only made $1,017,500 (£793,900) but overtook its estimate by an enormous $317,500 (£247,700) in the RM Sotheby’s sale. All the more extraordinary was that although a “matching numbers” car with less than 50,000 miles, it had been discovered ‘mostly complete’ in an asparagus field in the mid 1970s. It underwent a body and mechanical restoration.
After its chequered investment history over the last three plus decades the 959 is another seven-figure contender, Gooding finding a $1.1m (£833,000) home for an 8200km 1988 Komfort spec car originally delivered in Germany. But the daddy of all Pebble Beach lots had to be the 1970 917K (“K” denoting Kurz or short version) in familiar Gulf colours, which not only raced at Le Mans but appeared in the 1971 film Le Mans. Gooding sold it for a staggering $14.1m (£10.7m), making it the highest priced Porsche ever sold at auction.
Though not everything at Pebble Beach went for billionaires’ money, one hammered down for just $77,000 (£60,000) by Bonhams. It was distinctly agricultural, though: a 1961 Porsche Junior L108 Tractor. Just right for someone’s field of dreams. PW