Prospective buyers of Porsche's Carrera GT supercar in the US will have to holster their Onyx cards and stand down. The company announced it won't export the last of the cars it had allocated for the US, more than 200 vehicles' worth.
According to AutoWeek, the 2005 GTs don't meet a new NHTSA requirement that cars have two-stage "smart" airbags starting in 2006; and the agency refused to grant Porsche a waiver. Rather than reconfiguring the current inventory, then sacrificing several of the $440,000, carbon-fiber-wrapped cars on the crash-test altar, Porsche decided to pull the plug. Dealers, however, couldn't be happier to benefit from the cars' enforced "limited-edition" status.
Porsche cutting output of Carrera GT, won't bring final 200-plus cars alotted to U.S. market [AutoWeek]
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