Quote:
Originally Posted by aus
A lot of that price was because of the limited production. If BMW had made another 1,000 units, I'm sure the price would have been a lot lower. BMW keeps saying it's too expensive to Federalize the cars here, but why is it Porsche can do it with all the niche models they come out with? How many Black Series does MB sell here? Why is it only BMW who can't seem to import these niche vehicles?? 
BMW could have used the 4.4 block/crank it already had, and added Direct Injection. Porsche's new engines are BEASTS with DI. This would also improved CO2 emissions by around 15% for most cars with DI. They could have made the internals lighter and increased the redline, or just gone all out and made a flat plane crank V8 and just WIN BIG!!! 
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It seems simple in theory, but there are vital differences in how CO2 emission targets come into play here...
Porsche is part of a pool of 10 manufacturers under the VW umbrella. The pools combined CO2 emissions is what counts when the 130g/km of CO2 has to be met. In 2012 the VW pool had a combined CO2 of 120g/km, allready below the 130g/km level required for 2015.
BMW also has a pool, but only has BMW (incl. MINI), Rolls Royce and M GmbH in it's pool. In 2012 they had a combined CO2 of 124g/km, also below the 130g/km target for 2015.
However, M GmbH's average CO2 emissions was 231g/km in 2012 and they have set a target at 151g/km in order to meet their pool's requirements for future combined CO2 numbers of 90g/km (in 2020). Even the F8x at 199g/km exceeds that target...
AMG, in comparison, had a 2012 CO2 emission of just 177g/km and have the same target of 151g/km as M GmbH does. AMG is MUCH closer to meeting their CO2 requirements than M GmbH was back in 2012... (Quattro GmbH was at 219g/km and has a target of 147g/km).
If we look at Porsche's CO2 numbers, as a company and not as part of the VW pool, we will see that they had a 2012 CO2 emission of just 188g/km and has set a target of 153g/km. This tells us that Porsche allready has a combined corporate CO2 number that is LOWER than the best M GmbH car (the F8x at 199g/km).
M GmbH sold 6.375 cars in EU in 2012
Porsche sold 42.299 cars in EU in 2012
It's obviously easier for Porsche to make a few GT3's and such. They still only represent at VERY small percentage of total production numbers and make a small impact on corporate CO2 numbers.
BMW could also do a limited production NA version, but just a 500 production number would mean 8% of total production... And I'm not sure if Porsche makes as much as 8% (or 3.400) GT3's at 289g/km CO2 each year
If I'm not much mistaken the 997 GT3 sold about 1000 examples in the US over a two year period, and approximately the same in Europe. So 500 a year in Europe. 500 examples means 1,2% of total Porsche production. For M GmbH a limited edition model that makes a similarly small impact on total CO2 emissions as the GT3 does to Porsche would mean that they could only sell 76 cars per year in Europe (1,2% of 6.375).
It's hard to make a good business case for such a small production... And M GmbH has to meet their 151g/km target...
However, a NA engine and hybrid powertrain in addition (Porsche 918), that could be a VERY interesting scenario that creates LOW CO2 emissions and the best of both worlds
The above calculations are obviously just simplified versions of a quite complex legislation
Source on CO2 emissions:
http://www.ademloos.be/sites/default...Oct%202013.pdf