Porsche has 1,500 Cayenne Diesels sitting around doing nothing. Since early November of 2015, over a year ago, Porsche has been unable to sell this already-here allocation of Volkswagen 3.0 TDI powered Cayennes. There were additional US allocation Diesels that were quickly swapped around and sold to European buyers as soon as the stop-sale was announced, but the 1,500 SUVs already here in US ports couldn’t be released or dispatched back to Germany. For the cars already here, a fix will have to be agreed upon between Porsche and the Environmental Protection Agency, at which point Porsche will be able to send the blocked cars to dealerships where they will be sold as low-mile used cars. There are currently 10,000 Cayenne Diesel models on the road, which will also need to be fitted with whatever fix is agreed upon.
During an interview at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Porsche Cars North America CEO, Klaus Zellmer said “They will be low-mileage, very attractive used cars, based on the age of the car. There’s always a market for any car. You just have to get the price right.” Which seems to mean that the cars will be sold at a deep discount when they flood the used market. While the fix has not yet been approved, we appear to be in the home stretch as far as that is concerned. It is possible that early next year you could have a brand-used Porsche Cayenne Diesel, which is excellent to drive by the way, on your driveway. If you can get your car entered into the Porsche Certified Pre-Owned program when you buy it, you’ll be even better off. Get your dealer to throw in a good detailing, too, as ocean air and water spots will bake into the paint.
You can read more on the situation over on Automotive News and Cnet.