"Porsche Sales Are Falling. Here's Why" - Article

[Tooney]

Porsche's best-selling vehicle is going electric at a very bad time for EVs.
. . .
The Porsche Taycan is one of the best-selling luxury electric cars today and a good example of how electrification doesn't necessarily harm the image of a sports car brand. However, new problems are emerging.

Declining EV Demand
Last year, Porsche set a new annual sales record with 320,200 units worldwide after 16 consecutive years of growth (barring the COVID pandemic in 2020). However, it seems the streak is coming to an end. The latest data released shows global deliveries between January and September were 226,000 units, a decrease of almost 7 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
. . .
The Macan Case
The other, more worrying trend, involves the Macan. With the arrival of the second generation—available only as an EV—Porsche's bestseller is trying to beat the sales results of its combustion-powered predecessor. Porsche has eliminated the first-generation Macan from some key markets to focus solely on the new one. You no longer see the ICE Macan on Porsche's websites in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Austria.

The new Macan costs 22 percent more on average than the previous generation. The increase is mainly due to the change in powertrain from combustion to electric. The situation is worsened by the growing fears and negative sentiment towards electric vehicles in Europe. And the new Macan hasn't been introduced everywhere yet, so the model changeover is also hurting sales.

In short, the numbers show that Porsche is no longer growing mainly because of its electric models amid softer demand. Might this negative trend also impact other established luxury brands pushing towards a larger EV lineup?
https://www.motor1.com/news/740245/porsche-sales-motor1-numbers/

 

[D00notD00d]

This is a general problem?

 

[A.Mayor]

These types of articles remind me of Harvard Business Review case studies — oversimplified and full of cherry-picking.

 

[Brombaer1971]

We need even more of these articles …

 

[whitex]

Porsche has eliminated the first-generation Macan from some key markets to focus solely on the new one. You no longer see the ICE Macan on Porsche's websites in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Austria.

Uninformed author of the article. The real reason was the old Macan it too old of a design to pass latest EU regulations. So no, they haven't eliminated it from EU to focus on the EV, they did it so they don't have to pay more fines that they'd make on each car.

So nice theory, but completely unsupported by facts. Similar thing goes for EV demand softening - true, but so is ICE car demand. In 2024 in the US there is an expectation that 1 million less cars will be sold by end of this year as compared to 2023. I guarantee not all of those are EVs (actually most of them are not).

 

[D00notD00d]

Uninformed author of the article. The real reason was the old Macan it too old of a design to pass latest EU regulations. So no, they haven't eliminated it from EU to focus on the EV, they did it so they don't have to pay more fines that they'd make on each car.

The Boxster and Cayman are also being dropped rather than develop them to meet the EU driver assist regs. that no one voted for.

 

[whitex]

The Boxster and Cayman are also being dropped rather than develop them to meet the EU driver assist regs. that no one voted for.

AFAIK it's the cybersecurity regulations that the old Porsche designs cannot meet. Cyberspace is the new cold war arena, countries are looking to secure their infrastructures, which includes cars on the roads.

 

[D00notD00d]

@whitex - apologies, you’re correct. Cyber was the reason quoted in the You Tube video I posted above.
Perhaps the occasional Taycan PCM unreliability is down to hostile cyber attacks.

 

[whitex]

@whitex - apologies, you’re correct. Cyber was the reason quoted in the You Tube video I posted above.
Perhaps the occasional Taycan PCM unreliability is down to hostile cyber attacks.

Taycan PCM is compliant with the EU rules. That doesn't mean it cannot be hacked, just that it's way harder than hacking old Macans I guess.

 

[F1Ruaraidh]

This is a general problem?

Harry's video is a fairly biased op ed piece. He speaks confidently but is quite often wrong and the people talking to him generally have an axe to grind. Confirmation bias abounds.

Have picked him up on errors before butbhe bever corrects his videos even when he's admitted he's wrong.

 

[D00notD00d]

@F1Ruaraidh
Can you elaborate and evidence with examples?

 

[D00notD00d]

Taycan PCM is compliant with the EU rules. That doesn't mean it cannot be hacked, just that it's way harder than hacking old Macans I guess.

Lost irony.

 

[F1Ruaraidh]

@F1Ruaraidh
Can you elaborate and evidence with examples?

Yes he was once ranting in 2018 about how with increasing electricity demand, how would we cope with all these EVs.

Narrator -UK grid demand peaked in 2005 and has been falling ever since.

In this video he states that EPAS was introduced for lane keeping so that drivers can be controlled. Honda S2K owners will be amazed to hear that. EPAS was introduced to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency long before driver aids were even thought of.

Cybersecurity is not related to driver aids, it was brought in to comply with SAE/ISO21434 which itself derives from UNECE R155. This is to improve the *security* of all our vehicles (see Range Rover thefts!!) and not related to driver assists.

Treat him like a ranty op ed column not a source of engineering facts. He's great on classics though and I do love his videos, just puts my blood pressure up from time to time!

(35 years developing cars)

 

[whitex]

Yes he was once ranting in 2018 about how with increasing electricity demand, how would we cope with all these EVs.

Narrator -UK grid demand peaked in 2005 and has been falling ever since.

In this video he states that EPAS was introduced for lane keeping so that drivers can be controlled. Honda S2K owners will be amazed to hear that. EPAS was introduced to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency long before driver aids were even thought of.

Cybersecurity is not related to driver aids, it was brought in to comply with SAE/ISO21434 which itself derives from UNECE R155. This is to improve the *security* of all our vehicles (see Range Rover thefts!!) and not related to driver assists.

Treat him like a ranty op ed column not a source of engineering facts. He's great on classics though and I do love his videos, just puts my blood pressure up from time to time!

(35 years developing cars)

People make shit up all the time. As long as there is a large population of people who lack critical thinking skills and have an attention span of a fruitfly, various completely fictional but sensational theories will be getting views. The problem of course is that views translate into revenue, so internet serves as an evolutionary incubator selecting the most creative fiction authors who can attract the most eyeballs. Truth is often very boring to most people, and requires more than a bumper sticker slogan to explain.

PS> I was going to link to some top shelf conspiracy theories here as examples, but I don't want to contribute to spreading them.

 

[daveo4EV]

it's always both simpler and more complex than most people realize - it's also normally the result of many many years of accumulated decisions that lead to unanticipated outcomes - the wrong end point was arrived at via many many correct individual steps…

the ICE automotive supply chain is one of the most flexible and inflexible things humans have ever invented - things happen because of it - and some things can't happen because of it - changing it has massive impacts/costs…

this EV thing is going to shake some things out it's not entirely clear to me VW/Audi/Porsche know what game they are playing or how to win it - but they are very very comfortable doing things the way they always have…we'll see how that goes for them.

it takes courage and vision to walk away from billion dollar working product lines/methods…into an unknown future - and courage and vision is no guarantee of success even if you pursue that path.

EV's require courage and vision - success so far is very very elusive - other than "it's out there" - but not yet proven.