It wasn’t that long ago that Porsche was in love with the electric car. From the first moment, electric and Porsche seemed like antagonistic words. But the SUV acronym also seemed like that in its day and saved the brand from bankruptcy.
But although many tore their clothes, Porsche complied and presented the Taycan. The electric car instantly became a reference for the market. A chameleon-like vehicle that Héctor Ares wrote about in Xataka that “the Porsche Taycan’s ability to move forward is amazing. It doesn’t matter what speed you are traveling at, if you ask the car for power, it will always be ready to give it to you” and, at the same time, “it is surely the most comfortable sedan for travel than I have ever tried.
The doubts, raised eyebrows and frowns were quickly eclipsed by an electric car that seemed to come straight from the future. It must be remembered that Porsche launched the Taycan in 2019. Five years later it is still one of the reference models despite the fact that one year in the advancement of electric car technology seems like several more years in the real world.
The model was so well received that Porsche did not hesitate to recalculate its strategy. In 2021, its sales managed to eclipse the iconic 911, much less practical than the Taycan. And this helped the company to jump into the pool with objectives that left us amazed:
- By 2025, 50% of sales would be electric.
- By 2030, 80% of sales would be electric.
Now, Porsche is determined to take a step back.
A balloon that deflates
With the passage of time, Porsche has been increasing its sales. Except for 2020, when sales resisted slightly, the company has grown year on year and its sales since 2013 have doubled. That year, the Germans put just over 161,000 units on the market. In 2023, 320,000 deliveries were exceeded.
Sales figures that have been fed by models like the Porsche Macanwhich came to boost the business model to the point of rivaling the Porsche Cayenne for being the best-selling car of the entire offer. But also with the Taycan that opened the door to a new type of customer and offered a luxury sedan for those who already enjoyed a sportier Porsche at home.
Those electric sales built a brave roadmap. The Porsche Macan has said goodbye to its combustion engine and is only sold as electric. The vehicle has shared development (and headaches) with the Audi Q6 e-tron. And the Porsche 718, its mid-engine proposal, would also go to the “electric only” format.
Over time, however, sales of the Porsche Taycan have been falling (which is logical after five years on the market and with a deep renovation with very little time on the market) but the trend is not good. Even in China, where electric cars are beginning to become a religion, the company is detecting significant drops.
In the first three quarters of 2024, the most current data, the drop in sales in China is striking. The brand has sold 43,280 units in this period, compared to 60,748 units in the same period last year. It is a drop of almost 30%. The Porsche Taycan, which last year sold 27,885 units in Q3 2023, has only put 14,042 on sale this year, although it is in the middle of the aforementioned renovation.
The drop in sales in China is especially worrying for the company because it certifies the problems that German manufacturers have in growing in a country that was once a guarantee of success. The trend is explained well in this article article by Bloomberg. In it they tell the story of Ryan Xu and her husband, who had a Porsche 911 and a Mercedes G-Class at home.
Encouraged by the promise of a first electric Porsche, they made the leap to the Taycan. Decision that they described as “terrible.” “It was just an electrified Porsche. That’s all.” Cultural differences have created the feeling that “German cars can’t match (the experience of driving a Chinese car). It’s hard to see them as luxury cars now (about Mercedes, BMW or Audi)”, Xu pointed out for the economic media.
To the above we must add the challenge that it is for Porsche to convert its most accessible car (and one of its best-selling models) into a pure electric one. Just now that Donald Trump threatens to put more tariffs on European cars (all Porsches come to the United States from Europe) and that sales of electric cars are declining.
All of this has ended up making the company’s managers face their plans. They collect in Motor1.com that the company is evaluating the possibility of launching hybrid or pure combustion mechanics in models that should transition to “electric only” in the coming years.
“We are considering the possibility that the originally planned all-electric vehicles will have a hybrid transmission or a combustion engine. We are in the middle of making conceptual decisions. What is clear is that we will stay with the combustion engine for much longer,” were the words of Lutz Meschke, the company’s financial director, reported by the media.
The company has always been in favor of leaving the door open to the combustion engine and, in addition, pushed very hard for the European Union to allow the use of synthetic fuels on which they themselves are working. However, it seemed that the transition to electric cars within the company was going to leave very few models to be saved.
With the electric car slowing down its sales, the Chinese customer harshly punishing the German models and the possibility of having to raise its price in the United States, Porsche’s sky has been filled with dark clouds. And the heat engine may be the sun that gets hotter.
Photo | porsche
In Xataka | Porsche is very clear about where its survival lies: synthetic fuel and classics
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