ELA said:Thank you for taking the time to add your thoughts gents :thumb:
I thought the overly wordy guff might put a few off so I'm glad it didn't scare everyone. Just to be clear, Heart refers to Engine/powertrain, body = chassis and Soul is the tactile/feel element. If somebody wanted the Essence package for instance, it would include all of the elements in the Heart/body/soul fields under the Essence column. If you wanted Evolution it would mean you get all of the Essence column plus the Evolution column...
Just to clarify on a few other things I picked up on; I'm no marketing strategist and will probably never be able to cater for every single config that everyone would personally want but my thoughts on this matter are that Singer have a successful thing going on, as far as I can see. Now I don't think the world is quite ready for a 996 Singer just yet but feel that a 3 pronged approach could be the way forward. I feel Singer do not offer parts as it would dilute the brand and I don't really want to turn into a tuning shop selling parts especially when you have the potential shipping issues for large carbon panels. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. My intention is to spend my days twirling spanners and seeing through the creative design aspects of this concept in order to create/offer a truly magical driving experience. All of the design thus far is for both 996 and 997 models. I know I have taken a 996 as the base but in all phases, I have contingency measures in place to ensure the 997 is also on the cards.
I don't see this venture as a business person would and don't want to get rich off the back of this. I have spent serious money getting to where I am already and feel very lucky having got to this point already with my own personal tailored 911. The creative design and rewards from driving such a car is what does it for me. I want to try and offer the absolute best products available for 996/997 but at an affordable (relatively speaking) price. For instance I've roughly calculated that if I sold the Essence package for €21500+VAT I'd be just scraping by but would need to be constantly churning out cars. This would never include the infrastructure and development costs at over €130,000 I would have spent to get a full working demonstrator. I then need a workshop with ramps...
I know it sounds expensive but if you tally up the parts prices alone you will see that there is no money being made here; exhaust alone will cost you £5k. Then registering and running a business in Germany is not cheap etc.
I don't know if it is remotely feasible to make this work but we only live once and I have already got myself far deeper into this than I ever thought I would.
I'm not sure if that answers all of the questions but would like to thank you all for your support throughout this project and for your thoughts on this idea :thumbs:
ETA:
Ben/Paul: Jethro Bovingdon was lined up to drive the car in August but due to a few development issues (continuing still), I was not happy to present the car to him when it wasn't ready so this is on the back burner at present. As I respect his opinion massively, I want his take on the performance differences as he drives a fairly modded 996 himself. I was planning to use his opinion to describe the feel, performance changes and 0-60... so for this reason I haven't mentioned these figures. Also this car isn't about numbers. In simple terms it will deliver greater performance figures 0-170mph than a 996TT but it is the feel elements: sound, character and how well it drives... that are not possible to describe with numbers and that really is the raison d'etre.
Harv: I've not forgotten the GT3 throttle. I still plan to try this option. I just want to get the current set-up thoroughly tested and dyno proven to see where it currently is.
EGTE: That really is a kind offer for a ride in your car. When I'm next in the UK I'll be knocking on your door :thumb:
Marky: Thank you, true gent as ever :thumb: I think I answered your point above. Dammit again I think I answered your question above hopefully. Pothole both the 996 and 997 models apply :thumb:
ELA this is a mighty impressive project. Hats off.
The €21.5k you mention is not too bad, IMO, given the work and the inclusion of £5k exhaust and Ohlins suspension. The only thing I would personally not want is the Fuchs wheels as I'd prefer to go full sleeper.