Some People Are Reselling Their Honda Civic Type Rs For Up To P4.3 Million

Honda has just started delivering the Civic Type Rs to its customers just recently, but already, there are a few who are trying to resell their Type Rs for up to P4.3 million and taking advantage of the car’s demand.

It seems like Honda should rip a page out of Porsche and Aston Martin’s book. Porsche’s really good and very rare Porsche 911 R fetched some real money in the reselling/second hand market, with even someone selling it for US$1 million from its MSRP of US$185,950. The limited to 991 units sportscar was available only in a manual, and the way it was developed was that, it was like a back to basics Porsche, and a sort of manual version of the 911 GT3. People loved it, but Porsche got really pissed, because the brand seriously hates people using their cars as an investment, rather than something to be enjoyed by driving enthusiasts.

Porsche’s head of GT road car development, Andreas Preuninger, said that “I don’t like this business of people buying our cars to make money on them. That was never our intention. The purpose of limiting a car is not for it to gain value. We don’t want to be laying money on each car’s roof when they run out of the factory.”

When Porsche offered a manual to the 911 GT3, the 911 R’s prices went down, and some customers who bought the 911 R from resellers during its peak were mad. He responded “When I said we’re not a hedge fund, I’m talking to those people who are yelling at us for offering the manual transmission similar to the R.” The cars weren’t meant to fetch up millions as a museum piece.

Because of this, the company would rather sell to the real driving enthusiasts. Preuninger will not be selling their cars to supercar flippers. Flippers are people who buy limited production cars at MSRP, then resell it at a much higher price due to demand exceeding supply. This practice basically forces honest buyers out of the market, meaning these high performance cars can only be purchased by the richest of the rich through hiked prices. This is different from flipping by buying a rusty car, and then restoring it back to pristine condition and then selling it for a profit.

“If you’re flipping cars, then I think it’s understandable that you won’t get on the list for the next car if we have more demand than supply.” Preuninger said. “It’s not a punishment but a strategy to supply the cars to the customers who will really use them. I think that’s just fair.”

Aston Martin did the same when it discovered that a classified ad allegedly posted by Knight International is offering a build slot of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie hypercar for a staggering US$12.9 million, and Aston Martin’s CEO Andy Palmer investigated the classified ad.

We’re not sure whether or not Honda as a whole is aware of this, or the legitimacy of these ads on Facebook. This is not something that’s unique to the Philippine market. A dealer in the USA was selling a Brilliant Sporty Blue Civic Type R for US$54,000, way above its US$33,000 MSRP. You only need to check out Craiglist just to see how large the scale of this issue is.

There are only 100 Type Rs to be allocated for the Filipinos (for now). These rare cars should be sold to buyers at the price the manufacturer chooses, and then they should be driven instead of passed around. Truly interested car buyers are forced to pay double or triple the initial asking price just because someone purchased a rare car for profit. In the end, it’s all about the cha-ching here!

If you think P4.3 million is worth it for a Type R? Then we won’t contest that. Just so you know, if you are a potential Civic Type R customer reading this, we really suggest you to be a bit more patient and wait a little bit longer. From Top Gear Philippines’ video of the handover ceremony of the first Civic Type R in the Philippines, HCPI President Noriyuki Takakura said they are working hard to bring more Civic Type Rs next year.

Good things come to those who wait.

Memes from memecenter.com and popkey.co