Porsche is no longer growing like it used to, here's why

Among the causes would be the negative trend of electric cars

Photo by: Motor1.com

By: Juan Felipe Munoz

Nov 7, 2024 at 7:00am ET

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'Even the Rich Cry' is a popular soap opera in Mexico from the 1970s that is used as an expression to say that people of high social status and those who have lived in comfort can also face hard times. In the automotive field, we could say that this is the case with Porsche, known worldwide for its famous sports cars and, lately, SUVs and luxury saloons, and its ability to overcome any difficulties. Times, however, have changed.

Porsche is a solid brand of the large Volkswagen Group. Over the past 15 years it has been able to successfully enter new segments, introducing new models and powertrains that were unthinkable a few decades ago. Thanks to quality, performance and good marketing, Porsche has increased global sales almost threefold between 2009 and 2023. Other brands such as Tesla, Cupra, Dacia and BYD may have grown even faster in a shorter period, but their cars are not as expensive as Porsches.

This remarkable achievement has allowed Porsche to confidently explore the electric car segments with relative success. The Porsche Taycan is one of the best-selling luxury electric cars today and a good marketing example of how electrification does not necessarily damage the image of a sports car brand. However, new problems are emerging.

Challenges

Last year, Porsche set a new annual sales record with 320,200 units worldwide, after 16 consecutive years of growth (with the exception of COVID's year 2020). However, it seems that the German brand will not be able to beat this record at the end of this year. The latest figures released show that global deliveries between January and September amounted to 226,000 units, a drop of almost 7 per cent compared to the same period in 2023.

Global deliveries [Source: Porsche].

According to the company's report, the main reason for the drop was lower demand in China, which fell by 29 per cent. As far as models are concerned, there are two clear trends that explain Porsche's difficult time. Firstly, the Porsche Taycan is experiencing sharp declines in a market where demand is no longer growing, at least in Europe and the US.

The Taycan is also facing increasing competition in China, by far the largest BEV market in the world. To make matters worse, the Taycan was unveiled at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, which means it has been on the market for five years.

The Macan case

The other, more worrying trend concerns the Macan. With the arrival of the second generation, available only as an electric vehicle, Porsche's bestseller is still trying to beat the sales results of the previous combustion-engined generation. Porsche has removed the first generation from some key markets to focus more on the new, all-electric one. The Macan ICE is no longer available on the brand's German website. The same happens in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria, among others.

Porsche deliveries per model from January to September

The new Macan costs on average 22 per cent more than the previous generation. The increase is mainly explained by the change of propulsion from petrol to purely electric. The situation gets worse when one considers the growing fears and negative mood towards electric vehicles in Europe. However, the new Macan has not been introduced everywhere, so the model change is still hurting sales.

Average retail price of models/versions in Germany, * in 2023 [Source: Jato ].

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The data show that Porsche is no longer growing mainly due to its electric models or the switch from ICE to BEV. Does this mean that the general negative trend for electric cars is also having an impact on the once safe luxury brands?