There's a moment every Porsche buyer now experiences - the moment the configurator stops being a fun little fantasy tool and becomes an existential threat to your financial dignity.

 

It usually happens right after you've added the wheels you actually like, a paint color that isn't 'Refrigerator White,' and the one safety package that mysteriously contains the other safety package.

Suddenly, a base 911 - formerly the people's sports car, the accessible aspirational coupe - costs roughly the same as a medieval castle. A small one, but still. This didn't happen overnight. It happened quietly. Gradually. Strategically. And almost entirely after 2020, during the tail end of the Oliver Blume era at Porsche - a period defined by two relentless forces.