MY CAR IS IN ROUTE!

JUST GOT A CALL FROM DEALER MY CAR IS ON THE WATER! I GUESS I WILL TAKE DELIVERY BE DEC. 1ST. IN JACKSONVILLE FL. MIKE

Congrats, don't forget to upload some pics and to do a write-up of your driving impressions once you get the car.

We had talked about the "official" launch being 1/14. Is your dealer going give it to you early? I also wonder why I don't even have a VIN yet and yours is on the way... I ordered as early as anyone.

I'm with you chrismillion, had my order in since sept. and dealer told me yesterday my car should be in production as we spoke. He did say that he will give me updated status as soon as it changes.

The car will be at the dealer next week, but now they are saying I can't pick it up till Jan. 14. What is up with that? All this marketing hype is rubbing me wrong! Just give me the car so I can put a big bow on it and give it to myself for Christmas. Mike chevy pick up Triumph Daytona 955 Cayman S whenever!

As I posted yesterday my dealer said that there is a way to take delivery before the launch date, but it has to do with calling it a loaner and working out the other details after the launch. Aloha Russ

My car is on the water as well. No idea regarding arrival. -Pete

Regarding why some cars are on the water and some not. My salesman explained it this way: Lets say some of us ordered ours in late August and some in September, and so on. Up to a certain number of orders, all the cars would be designated to be a November build. For economic and efficiency reasons though, Porsche is not obligated to build each car in the order it was purchased. What they do say is that if you were told a November build, it would be done by the end of November. They then build them in a matter that allows for some production efficiency. We have no way of knowing what those parameters may have been, but speculation runs anywhere from a given grouping of options, or colors (colours for our Brit friends) etc. Well it makes sense that they would make a run of similar cars and thus the groupings could push a purchase earlier or later. Keep in mind that even this explanation carried a bit of speculation.

My Dealer notified me today that the car I ordered is in country but still does not know when Porsche will release it for sale. I called Porsche North America and they would only tell me to talk to the dealer...........rick

kmns, That makes sense, in other words if you ordered some options that might not be practical for the assemby the vehilce coul dbe pushed back to a more practical slot with other vehilces of like options. Just a guess, but it seems logical. Russ

I'm sure the cars will be held by PCNA, not shipped to dealers. Arrival of your car will probably coincide with the Jan. 14 launch date. Your dealer will receive the car a few days ahead, and be instructed to deliver the car on Jan. 14 or after.

Has it ever been confirmed that this delayed delivery is due to delayed emissions certification? It seems very inefficient to delay delivery purely for hype, or the Detroit Auto Show date, etc.thus requiring storage of these cars somewhere. Not to mention giving all the eagerly waiting buyers a bad taste of the whole process.

Agreed. I'd like to know the reason for the delay. I admit that the over control of the process by Porsche is turning me off the entire product line. I could have had the Z06 in the driveway by now, not to mention a bunch of other alternatives including the '06 Carrera. All this unease is not helped by the fact that the local dealer has not manged to secure thier launch Cayman due to 'paperwork'. It also p.o.'s me that the local launch car has been sold for 1/15 delivery which will be before my Cayman which was ordered in late September will arrive. So much for being first.

In the past, when things were going well, Porsche marketing tended to be a bit arrogant. Seems to be happening again? Then when things are not so good for them they become more accomodating. In '90 I bought a new '89 944 Turbo the dealer had for nearly a year, with a MSRP of $47,600, for $17K discount! Plusa 'future draft choice' of an Audi at cost which I alsoexercised shortly before the dealer folded.

I honestly think you are looking at this from the wrong side of the page. The Cayman S was always scheduled to go on sale Jan. 14, exactly one year after the 987 Boxster went on sale. The fact that the Porsche blessed us with the 'display' cars that are now arriving is great. Until you see the car yourself in person, you will understand that pictures do not do this car any justice. It's beautiful in person, and there isn't a photograph anywhere in the world I've seen that show the lines on this car properly. That being the case, and Porsche realizing it, they decided to get the car out into the showrooms for all of the people wanting to see one before they ordered. While you are concerned and becoming frustrated w/ Porsche marketing, realize the launch date was always Jan. 14. And there was always going to be a launch car that would be the absolute 'first' one to arrive. The idea behind the launch car isn't so much to sell first, but instead keep around the dealership for a while for interested people to examine and experience. But when a car is tough to get or keep in stock, the launch car then morphs into the first car to be sold. Porsche is by no means arrogant, but they are a conservative German car maker. We are fortunate to have the cars arriving now, rather than January. When you ordered your Cayman, you probably weren't promised a delivery date. So why is everyone getting frustrated and mentioning the possibility of having a 997 S or Z06 in the garage already. You should have know this when you ordered the Cayman to begin with. I think you should be excited we have cars to admire until your very own arrives.

Woodhouse thanks for the advice. As a matter of fact I was lead to belive that my order would be the first Cayman around and there was NO mention of a 1/15 first delivery date. (I don't want the alternatives anyway but I wouldn't be thinking about what I passed up if complete information had been available when I put down my deposit). My dealer has no Cayman for me to admire yet anyway so I'm just feeling left out an under valued as a customer since there is NO information from them to share the excitement. Things are looking good for Porsche without the Cayman it appears. Best November in History: Sales Up 10 Percent ATLANTA, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA), importer and distributor of Porsche sports cars and Cayenne SUVs in the United States and Canada, today announced November retail sales in the United States totaled 2,675 cars, an increase of 10 percent compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date sales totaled 29,072 cars compared to 28,778 for the first 11 months of last year. Strong performance throughout Porsche's model range resulted in an all- time November record. Sales of Porsche's flagship 911 were up 19 percent to 951 cars, and Boxster sales were up 307 percent to 419 cars. Carrera GT sales were also up 76 percent, selling 30 units. Dealers sold 1,275 Cayennes, thus reversing a declining trend. In addition, dealers sold 420 Porsche Approved Certified Pre-Owned vehicles, compared to 351 for the same period last year. Model Month to Date Year to Date Current Year Prior Year Current Year Prior Year Boxster 0 63 289 1768 Boxster S 0 40 265 1648 Boxster (987) 265 0 3996 0 Boxster S (987) 154 0 2852 0 ALL BOXSTER [phone removed] 3416 911 Carrera 1 14 128 1259 911 Targa 0 8 41 134 Carrera Cabriolet 0 33 198 1140 911 Turbo Coupe 0 7 17 235 Carrera 4 S Coupe 0 24 157 813 911 Turbo S Coupe 2 20 168 27 Carrera 4 Cabriolet 0 1 11 83 911 Turbo Cabriolet 2 33 72 1359 Carrera 4 S Cabriolet 1 39 85 1426 911 Turbo S Cabriolet 6 39 529 56 GT3 Coupe 1 36 96 561 GT2 Coupe 0 0 5 24 911 Carrera(997) [phone removed] 779 911 Carrera S(997) [phone removed] 960 Carrera Cabriolet(997) 110 0 1489 0 Carrera S Cabriolet(997) 171 0 1657 0 Carrera 4 Coupe(997) 38 0 119 0 Carrera 4S Coupe(997) 106 0 163 0 Carrera 4 Cabriolet(997) 38 0 56 0 Carrera 4S Cabriolet(997) 112 0 142 0 ALL 911 [phone removed] 8856 Cayenne [phone removed] 5327 Cayenne S [phone removed] 8469 Cayenne Turbo [phone removed] 2548 ALL CAYENNE 1275 1508 12182 16344 Carrera GT 30 17 321 162 GRAND TOTALS 2675 2425 29072 28778 Certified Pre-Owned [phone removed] 4025 Edited by - Santa Fe on 12/01/2005 8:36:53 PM

Porsche does not often divulge information even to dealers...so your dealer probably was providing you all information available at the time you put down your deposit. I often describe Porsche as being very tight lipped, even to it's dealers.

It would be interesting to see REVENUE numbers as opposed to just model numbers because for example on the Cayenne the sales of Turbos and S's have dropped, only the base V6 model increased. The 911 increased simply because there were more sub-models to sell like the C4S, the base 997 and 997S both dropped in sales as compared to last year. Carrera GT's were up, but I'm willing to be those were heavily discounted to get them to move whereas last year they were commanding a premium. I didn't realize any unsold GT3's were sitting around, but evidently 1 was! /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/whatchutalkingabout_smile.gif As for getting dealer cars in, don't feel bad Santa Fe, my local dealer doesn't have their car yet either, mainly because they FORGOT to send in their paperwork to PCNA and ended up faxing it in late. I also had someone who was in line behind me jump over me and take a Nov build, whereas mine in December without my dealership ever offering me the Nov slot. Not that big of a deal to me though because the guy is paying MSRP, and I'm not, plus I was hoping a particular option would come available by Dec build time, it likely won't, but it was worth a shot... None of my local Chevy dealers has a Z06, some have not received ANY, others have had 1 or 2, but they were presold and I guess in someone else's garage...

I am getting anxious waiting as well. I did know that when I put a deposit down that I wouldnt get the car until Jan. sometime. I can understand tho the frustration of waiting and waiting without getting all the information up front. At least the car is available now to check out at the dealer. I was kind of hesitant to buy a car sight unseen.

FINALLY, My car was completed yesterday Dec. 1, it was scheduled for Nov 30th, not too bad! Now get this they gave me my VIN, BUT he said that it is only a partial VIN and they should get the rest of it soon. Anyway here is the part we have now, VIN# _________96U781525. It is supposed to be 17 digits so I am still missing 8 of them. Well something is better than nothing. Russ/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thanks.gif

Great! Good for you. Now the slow boat to the Islands. I'd like to ask about mine but it is difficult for the dealership it seems. The salesman has to ask the manager to look and he spends all his time in the Mercedes store. Strange arrangement. Anyway I'm glad yours is built. Once it is loaded it takes about 15 days to get to us in the mainlands. Please share how you can track the 'boat'.

Russ, Since you have the tail end of the VIN, you should be able to plug in the first 8 digits, as I believe that they should be the same as the rest of ours. Your final 5 digits indicate that yours was the 1525th Cayman S manufactured !

Rick, Thanks, I didn't know that was how it worked. Does anyone know where it was constructed? Is that what the 'U' stands for? I do remember someone posted a breakdown of what all the numbers and letters stand for, just couldn't find it. Russ

Uusikaupunki is the port in Finland. Not sure if that is where it is built.

Yes, the 'U' would indicate that it was built in Finland; otherwise, it would be an 'S' for you know where !

Thanks Guys! Now I just need a canoe so I can paddle over and get my car. /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/hi.gif Russ