Electric triumph: Porsche Taycan outsells iconic 911
The success of Porsche's first mass-produced electric model was not hindered by a global shortage of microchips or a summer recall due to a sudden drop in power in the power plant.
The Porsche Taycan debuted in September 2019 and sold 20,015 units around the world in 2020 (hereinafter, the company's own data is provided). In March of this year, the Cross Turismo station wagon joined the Taycan lineup and, as an expanded family of electric vehicles, Porsche managed to overtake the 911 sports cars in sales: according to the results of the first three quarters of 2021, which Porsche published today, 28,640 and 27,972 units were sold. respectively, despite the fact that the demand for the Porsche 911 increased by 10% compared to the same period last year.
For electric vehicles, this is a bright and significant victory, although it is clear that it is impossible to directly compare Taycan and 911 – they have different target audiences. But with the Panamera, the comparison is quite appropriate: the gasoline counterpart showed a result of 20,275 units sold with an increase of 1%.
There is nothing surprising in the fact that the Taycan turned out to be more successful than the Panamera, because, all other things being equal, it is cheaper both to buy and to operate, while it is more fashionable and deafeningly fast in top versions. Even recently, where the charging infrastructure is almost not developed, the Taycan is now selling better than the Panamera, but electric trains live mainly in large cities, where they have something to connect to.
In the summer of this year, Porsche was forced to recall all the Taikans produced at that time (about 43,000 units) due to a software failure in the control of the power plant, but this unpleasant procedure, as we see, did not shake the demand for an electric car. However, it is still far from Porsche gasoline crossovers: from January to September, Cayenne sold 62,451 units around the world, Macan – 61,944 units, Porsche 718 family of mid-engined sports cars – 15,916 units.
By the way, in the next generation of the Porsche 718, most likely, will become electric. The electrification of the 911 model is not excluded, but the versions with internal combustion engines will remain with it until the last – Porsche generally hopes for their “eternal life” thanks to climate-neutral fuel.
China became the largest consumer of Porsche cars in the first three quarters, with 69,789 units sold. (and this despite the fact that there is no local production and the prices for Porsche in China are crazy), the USA is in second place – 51,615 units, sales recently amounted to 4,611 units.
In just nine months, Porsche sold 217,198 cars worldwide, up 13% from the same period in 2020.
By the end of the full year 2021, Porsche is likely to again become the most profitable company in the structure of the Volkswagen Group and will distribute generous bonuses to workers: last year, every full-time employee in Germany received 7,850 euros.
