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Originally Posted by richard in NC
True for many German cars to be limited to 150 or so in years past. However I feel that given many American Corvette and other sales there lately, many German models, especially Porsche now have much higher limits. BMW offers the "M Drivers Package" in Germany and the US to allow 186 mph. Plus you get a day of driver training. The biggest limit is tires, Only the top tires are rated at a sustained 186 mph, and none are rated over that. Although the Michelin Cup 2 has been tested and used on super cars that can hit 200+ mph.
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I just read an old German article about it (late 80s), the main reason was to avoid that the faster cars would provoke a political debate with a general speed limitation as a possible consequence. Apparently the E32 750i was the first car to have the limiter at 155mph. Merc and Audi jumped in and they positioned it as a statement of responsability and also a kind of "prestige" that they had to limit their cars to 155mph. So the limitation somehow made the car sexy, since buyers started to state they had a car in which the monster had to get electonically contained. Only the happy few could state that back then in the 80s.