996 Production Sizes/ UK Sales

Hi all, I recently got my first Porsche. After much deliberation - more feeling than thinking - I ended up with a 2004 C4S Cab and I absolutely love it! So now I'm trying to learn as much as I can about my new hobby and have joined here, bought books on the 911 and of course done as much driving as I can fit in. But one thing that I am curious to find out and don't know where to look for is: how many of my car is around? I've seen in a few threads in here that people have quoted production sizes of individual models etc, but where do you come across this information? Look forward to be part of 911UK Henrik

Hi Henrik - welcome to the club! Great car the C4S and certainly one model that was produced in fewer number numbers than many 996s despite it being a normal production model. Can't asnwer your question though I'm afraid. As ever, please post up some piccie of your new car - what spec does it have? ~ Maxie :welcome:

Henrik, Porsche AG Historic Archives state the following production numbers (by model year) for the Carrera 4S Cabriolet: 2003 451 2004 4543 2005 763 So very low numbers indeed. In fact I don't believe I've ever seen one! Perhaps you could put up a picture of yours.. Hope this helps Jason

Jason, do you have the build numbers for the coupe version of the C4S? Where are these numbers published (what are the Porsche Historic Archives is this something available on line or in a book?) I have asked before about build numbers for the C4S and though the GT2 and GT3 seemed to be known never seen C4S or indeed any of the other 996 models split out. Cheers

Yes in fact I do.. 2001 15 2002 4802 2003 7388 2004 4365 2005 728 What amazes me is the never ending '996 and mass production' tale. Porsche built 20,072 911s way back in model year 1991, yet only 9,248 996s in 1998!! The ONLY reason there are more 996s than any series before it, is because it ran for 8 full model years. It IS NOT an inferior car. I have many books on the 996 (and other series) since I am so fascinated by it. The most detailed book I have by far (and the one quoting Porsche Historic Archives) is the Porsche 996 Essential Companion. Check it out because you will see the 996 in a different light, and not the one that oddly some people want you to see it in :?: Jason

what you have to remember tho Jason is how many were sold in the UK market,I'll bet still shows that the 996 year on year was more available than any of the post 3.2 Carrera models,those production numbers can be missleading afterall,especially if they are whole world figures

Jason, Thanks for that. Very interesting. Strange that so many more were made in 2004 compared to 2003 and 2005. Wonder if they were only partial years? Rodders, not sure I follow your logic. You really think that the UK started buying a larger share of the Porsche production with the 996 compared to earlier models? In any case if I understand Jason correctly he is commenting that the total year-by-year production of 996 isn't much higher than previous versions. My new hobby:

they total productiuon numbers so both right and left hand drives?? cheers

quite funny someones comment that C4S's in cabrio or coupe are rare, and that they have never seen one, where I live and work in london u never see anything but C4S 996, my C2 non "S" is a bit of a rarity, only cos people round here dont normally keep older cars or buy the "base" model, if a c2 could ever be called that! (apart from me!)

Can't see what's misleading about production figures. What comes off the line in a given year is exactly that, regarless of where it ends up in the world. All PAG historic figures quoted in this thread are production totals.

I'm too a Carrera/C2 owner - and 1998 model year at that. And I don't give a t*ss what people say about the lights. I like 'em. I don't believe the term 'rare' has been used in this thread. But regarding the C4S Cabriolet, it ranks highly as a low volume model (I may provide a build-number-ordered list soon), with I suspect most going to the US due to their fairer weather, making their appearances here even less likely. I was genuine when I said I've never seen one in the metal.

I guess there is a situation of 'ramp up' and 'ramp down', with only one model year intended for the C4S Cab. Nice looking car you have there Henrik :thumb: Yes can't see that the UK customer base suddenly became very interested in the 996 because this would suggest the 993 had flopped here. If anything the proportion of sales for the 996 has gone the other way with the Turbo & Turbo Cab Tiptronic (Americans love autos). For the record I am not series biased because I also like the 993 & 964 too, and would in fact snap up the 993 C4 Varioram (in advertisements) going for £16k if I had somewhere to put it. I went for the 996 because whatever way you look at it, it a was a *performance* quantum leap.

follow up question. I have a 2003 Targa and I have only seen one other 996 Targa in the last 15months. Is the Targa also pretty rare as well? Any stats on how many of these are on the road?