Just ran across this article on the new Rousch Mustang:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532840,00.html

While reading it I was struck by what a great deal just north of $14k got you: supercharger, new exhaust, new cold air intake, reworked suspension, short throw shifter, new body panels, and interior enhancements.

Granted it comes in a package and I'm sure there are economies of scale savings too, but if I were to try and replicate this kind of rework on my porsche I'd probably looking at 4x times this cost. The superchargers for Porsche alone are in the $14k+ range... which I have always considered about $8k north of realistic pricing.

Is it just the fact that Porsche owners are willing to pay through the nose for mods that drives these prices?

 

Great point, I am a current owner of a modified mustang and stock Porsche. I supercharged my mustang, 3.73 gears, lowered, 18 inch rims/tires... all for probably $6000 (found some great deals). I am trying to find rims for my 911 and am balking at paying $8000 for a set. I appreciate quality (DD is an 07 Audi A4 S-line) but I think that the margins tend to be greater in a higher segment. I think price elasticity is the driving force i.e. what manufacturers/distributors think the market will bare.

my .02

 

think about the amount of porsche owners vs. mustang owners gettin their cars modded.

my personal opinion is if ur product sells 3 times less in terms of numbers, then u sell it for 3 times more in terms of money make it a feasible business.

 

It's the lack of demand for aftermarket products, lack of critical mass, lack of competition producing said products...the result, we pay through the nose.

 

The lower production numbers do set our prices a bit higher, but I'd also like to think that the overall quality of the product is also slightly better than your average aftermarket mod for say a mustang.

A bit of both is what drives the prices up. Just be glad you dont have a CCX everything there is thousands of dollars because its all one off pieces, no mass production.

 

You can also add the snob tax.

Example: I ordered a custom Amuse Titanium Y-pipe back exhaust for my 350Z two years ago for around 2300... this included a midsection and a beautiful muffler. You can't just find these at a local hobby shop. It was maybe around 20-40 lbs lighter than the stock exhaust.

For my 335i... a pair of OEM BMW Performance mufflers runs up to $1800 MSRP... for just MUFFLERS. I won't even get into Eisenmann or Supersprint. And these AREN'T even Titanium.

I really doubt European parts are that much better engineered than the ones featured in the Roush Mustang, especially since the latter has a reputation to keep.

 

I agree with jherbias on the snob tax. While I believe there are many Porsche tuners who make high quality products I don't believe that a high price assures high quality. I do however have a difficult time accepting some of the prices charged by manufactures who supply other types of cars with similar parts but at much lower prices than the PCar parts. And the smaller number of cars theory has some merit for specialty parts but many of the aftermarket parts made today will work on the full compliment of Boxsters and 996/997's currently on the road greatly increasing the universe of potential buyers particularly in the area of wheels which can be very expensive. The good news is everything for a Porsche is less expensive than everything for a Ferrari.

 

Don't forget VW gets a cut also now.

 

It's just the price of the toy . Even a modded Mustang is expensive for someome who takes the bus .

 

It almost certainly is both. The volumes of these cars are relatively modest. Even if you account for the Boxster's and Cayman's in the list, it's a lot smaller than Mustangs or Honda's. And for common brands there seems to be less specificity in the mod'ing parts, so they provide average incremental value for the cars they fit. So for Porsche's the cost of R&D has to be spread across far fewer items.
But it's also the 'because we can' factor. When looking at the financial status of the average P-car owner, it is likely to be significantly higher than other high volume cars. So the prices reflect what the market will bear.
That said, for the major brands, I really don't think that the quality is any higher or lower based on the car. The very high end and the very low end might have some special characteristics, but in general, it's pretty much the same.
'Cause, there's always that $8,000 custom CCX luggage...

 

Yeah, your wallet can take a beating if you have the mod bug with these cars. I was doing okay until recently when TechArt stopped accepting my food stamps as payment.

 

an aftermarket header for a mustang is $250. for a 997, its $1600.

no formula or reasoning in the world can explain that difference other than that high end car parts have higher profit

 

I think it will be interesting to see if the modders start massively discounting. When your car is suddenly worth $20k less than you thought it was, then maybe you aren't going to pay so much for those mods.

I think ppl were buying mods with mortgage refi money. Porsche mod prices need to come down by half.

 

Not only will we maybe see massive discounting, will we see them survive? One of the oldest aftermarket tuners in Oregon, Plus One Motorsports, just went out of business after over 20 years in business. I'm hearing others are not doing so well and more may fail.

 

Supply and demand my friend.... supply and demand

Lots of Mustangs- Lots of Mustang enthusiasts and tuners

Limited number of Porsche's- Extremely limited number of Porsche tuners