Nick, I have to agree with the CGT, but CGT purchase is not a cold logical one if you have te money to buy one, then loosing some money on it to be able to enjoy such a car is the buyers right if he can afford it. Think of it this way, less poseurs will be buying the car

AS to US, not only is the US not the world market, but also when you say "disater" when refering to resale value in US, have you checked its rivals? BMW-M3, Gallardo, Vette/Viper, etc?
You are comparing it to Ferrari's artificial "US" market, were the new models are solds to a few pre-arranged customers who garage-queen them only to be traded in shortly after for the next one so that the dealer can resell the car and make profit several times on the same car at the expense of the second hand Ferrari buyers that have to bend over for the overinflated price. Over here, Ferarri resale is "good" but maintenace, repairs, insurance, etc make it a more expensive car to own than a Porsche in the end. Even more so if you intend to really drive the Ferrari. And there is nothing wrong with that, if you want to enjoy a Ferrari, you have to pay for it.

For many people, Porsche sportcars have no subtitute, no competition (and given their success, its quite a bit of people) so the logical depreciation is worth paying for for them. And in many parts of the world, its not even bad at all so its a great purchase when you weight in all that you get:
- practicallity (can be used as a daily driver so you don't need to spend on one car for the weekend another for the weekdays, and also enjoy a sportcar on weekdays),
- performance (top notch that matches performance of pricier sportcars),
- safety (excellent passive and active safety for a sportcar unlike other competitors),
- reliability (always top marks in the reliability polls),
- build quality & refinement,
- technology-engineering (what porsche is famous for along perfromance),
- resale (above average in many market and at least average in others), etc.
- versatility (a model for perfect for each person's needs, AWD/RWD, coupe/targa/cab, N-A/turbo, street/track, etc.)
and so on.
Thats why they are so succesful.