Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder: Adventures in Exploiting the Rich

Today, to celebrate their new 918 supercar, Porsche announced a new special edition of the venerable 911, the new Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder. Boy, isn’t that a mouthful? Actually, since it’s available as a drop top, it could even be the Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder Cabriolet. I admit that the nomenclature is a little confusing, now that Porsche is making a coupe with the word Spyder in its name, and putting two model numbers on one car, so just that you know what we’re talking about it’s not Porsche’s new hybrid supercar, the 918 Spyder. No, this car is indeed based on the more pedestrian (yeah, I know, it’s a car, but work with me) 911. To be sure, it’s a special 911, what with its Turbo and S suffixes, and it’s got some unique-for-a-911 carbon fiber trim and “acid-green” stitching on the leather, to effect some of the look of the 918. I just checked on TrueDelta and a regular 2011 911 Turbo S is $160,700. So how much do you think it will cost you to get behind the wheel of a 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder?

How about a million dollars?

And Porsche will sell every single one that they build.

A million dollars? How could even a special edition 911 cost a mil? Even a 911 GT2 RS stickers out at less than a quarter mil. So how does the Porsche 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder cost a million bucks? In what is a bid to seize the title from Ferrari for the most shameless exploiter of well healed customers in the automotive industry, Porsche is making you buy an $845,000 918 Spyder hybrid supercar before they’ll let you buy one of the nine hundred and eighteen 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyders that they’ll be making to match the same number of 918 Spyders in that car’s planned production run.

In announcing that the 918 Spyder will enter production, and that it will cost about twice what Porsche’s previous supercar, the Carrera GT, cost, Porsche also let prospective buyers/collectors know that to fully appreciate the 918 Spyder ownership experience, they’ll also have the chance to buy a turbocharged $160,000 “My Other Porsche Is A 918” bumper sticker.

The press release from Porsche announcing the production and pricing of the 918 Spyder finished by announcing a special accessory that Porsche would be making for 918 Spyder buyers:

“Customers who order the 918 Spyder also have the opportunity to acquire a special-edition 911 Turbo S Coupe or Cabriolet. Also limited to no more than 918 units, the 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder will have exterior and interior design elements echoing the plug-in hybrid 918 Spyder supercar’s styling. It features similar exterior colors, carbon-fiber elements inside and out, enhanced leather equipment and numerous acid-green accents on items such as the brake calipers, illuminated sill plates, interior stitching and instrument cluster needles. A limited-edition badge on the glove compartment door will feature the same production number as the customer’s 918 Spyder.

Worldwide 918 Spyder customers can begin ordering this special edition 911 Turbo S sports car today, and customer deliveries will start later in 2011. The U.S. base manufacturer’s suggested retail prices for the Coupe and Cabriolet versions are the same as the standard 911 Turbo S models, $160,700 and $172,100 respectively, excluding destination..”

“Have the opportunity” indeed. Speaking of opportunity, 918 cars at $160,000+ means that Porsche will reap their share of an additional $150 million worth of MSRP. There are reasons why Porsche is the most profitable car company around. Actually I’m surprised that Porsche missed out on a revenue opportunity since they are apparently not charging extra for the Edition 918 Spyder part of the 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder. The $160,700 key fob is the same price as a 911 Turbo S without green thread.

No mention was made of making the special “918” 911s available for the general public to purchase. I suspect that Porsche expects that each and every 918 Spyder will leave Zuffenhausen with it’s own matching 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder. My guess is that 918 buyers will regard the 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder as just another checkbox on the option sheet. In this case they may be trying to protect residual value.

At this level, folks, the people who buy these cars have to be considering their resale value. Not because the cars necessarily depreciate. Ferrari made 399 Enzos. Each sold for over $600,000. Today you might not be able to buy a wrecked Enzo for that little. The last time I looked, used Enzos were going for over a million dollars.

I expect that those 918 918s will likewise either not depreciate or may even appreciate in value. I suspect that at the 2021 Barrett Jackson auction, the 918 Spyders that have a matching 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder will fetch the highest prices. In the meantime buyers of the 918 will be able to show off ownership without putting miles on their more prized possession.

Ronnie Schreiber is the editor of Cars In Depth, a car culture site that features informed and entertaining writing along with 3D photos and video (and they work in 2D too!)