Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Porsche tuners 9ff, SpeedArt going bankrupt

Times are tough in Europe right now, and that unfortunately has reaped disastrous consequences for some of its smallest niche automakers. Gumpert, Wiesmann, Artega and Lola have all filed for bankruptcy this year, and it appears that tuners are not immune to the tough times, either.

Word coming in from across the pond suggests that 9ff and SpeedArt – two of the biggest names in Porsche tuning – have filed for bankruptcy as well. 9ff is best known for the GT9, a radical hypercar barely based on the 911, while SpeedArt was once of the foremost tuners of Porsches.

Fortunately there are still plenty of tuners ready to take a wrench to your Elfen, but the reported demise of these two makes the market a little bit smaller and – for Porsche enthusiasts – maybe the world a little bit lonelier, too.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/09/19/p...dart-bankrupt/

I8ABMR

another one bites the dust. Not sure what these boutique manufacturers and tuners thought was going to happen.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Not sure about European auto sales but Stateside they are steadily climbing again

gengar

Sign of the times. It's not just the worldwide economy either; I'm convinced that people nowadays just aren't as interested in performance cars. When kids for the last 10+ years would rather have the latest smartphone and go eco hybrid to get around instead of putting money into a fun car, it means when they become adults with money, they also won't do things like tune their new Porsche sportscars that they never bought in the first place.

Hopefully, stuff like the FT-86 helps change this.

Seize

If I had the money I probably wouldn't have gone with the tuners mentioned above. For me, it'd be RUF or nothing.