Porsche is cutting total production output of Carrera GT's from 1,500 to 1,250 units. Most of the 250 dropped units would have gone to the United States, a Porsche spokesman says. Since the Carrera GT went into production in January 2004, 396 have been sold in the United States through July. Porsche says the $440,000 car won't meet the 2006-model requirements for smart airbags, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wouldn't grant a waiver.

"It's a business decision," a Porsche spokesman says. "The cost of engineering the two-stage airbags and recrashing the cars just to make them model-year 2006 cars just doesn't make sense."

Dealers also say keeping the numbers down will help keep values high. Many prospects view the car as 'an investment', and wondered why Porsche was building so many Carrera GT's, when Ferrari usually only makes 400 or so when it has a limited-edition car.