2018 Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Offers Industry-First Braided Carbon Fiber Wheels For The Price Of A Ford Fiesta

Porsche claims to be the first automaker to bring braided carbon-fiber wheels to a production car by offering a quartet of ultra-strong, ultra-light, dark grey rims as an optional upgrade on the 2018 Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series.

You remember the one. It’s a regular ol’ 911, only turbocharged and upgraded to S trim and then further upgraded with 27 more horsepower for — make sure you’ve swallowed that last bite — $67,000. There will only be 500. The top speed is 205 miles per hour. The total cost is $257,500, or roughly the cost of a regular 911 Turbo S and a Macan GTS. There’s a lot of Golden Yellow Metallic.

And for the price of a 2017 Ford Fiesta, you could upgrade your 2018 Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series with $14,980 wheels.

Something tells me that if you’re about to purchase a $257,500 Porsche 911 Turbo S, the decision between a new Ford Fiesta and a set of carbon fiber wheels isn’t keeping you up at night.

Be an early adopter. Believe the hype. Get the wheels.

Porsche says the hugely in-depth process involves nearly 10 square yards of carbon-fiber fabric, “cutting and assembling over 200 individual components,” and the largest carbon-fiber braiding machine… in the world. The result is a wheel that’s 20 percent stronger and 20 percent lighter, achieving the very best kind of heft reduction: an unsprung weight cutback. The total weight reduction, according to Car And Driver, is 75 pounds.

Through the first seven months of 2017, U.S. sales of the Porsche 911 are down 15 percent. Though it’s still Porsche USA’s best-selling non-SUV, the 911 is on track to suffer a six-year U.S. sales low in 2017.

Ford’s accessory catalogue says you can replace the 15-inch covered steelies on a basic Ford Fiesta S Sport with $868 16-inch, 8-spoke black track alloys. Ford Fiesta S buyers likely won’t do that. But for Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series buyers, what’s another $15,000?

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.