Porsche’s piece of gold loses its shine

The Porsche Taycan has become a somewhat surprising hit for the sports car manufacturer. But with the first success come expectations that the Sportstromer cannot fully meet. Porsche’s young gem has lost its shine – but that’s no wonder.

E-car has problems: Porsche Taycan has to take a beating

All in all, Porsche has nothing to complain about. The sports car manufacturer made almost 310,000 deliveries in 2022, a healthy increase of 3 percent compared to the previous year – despite the year of crisis. But things are different with the new star from Stuttgart: 34,801 Taycan electric cars were handed over to customers – a Minus a whopping 16 percent (Source: Porsche).

This puts the first Porsche electric car well behind the classic 911. The sports icon sold 40,410 vehicles, 5 percent more than in the previous year. In 2021, however, the Taycan was able to overtake the 911 for the first time.

Porsches top seller however, the SUVs remain untouched cayenne and Macan. The former was Porsche’s best-selling model in 2022 with 95,604 units, followed by the Macan with 86,724 vehicles on the books.

Part of the remarkable success of Porsche in the last few years of the crisis – and thus also part of the Taycan breakthrough – can be explained by the Volkswagen strategy. Since the global supply chains were in crisis as a result of the corona pandemic, the parent company of Porsche has given preference to supplying particularly expensive, high-margin models with chips and other scarce parts. Within the Group, this is of particular benefit to Porsche and Audi.

2023 is not an easy year for e-car buyers:

Crisis arrives at Porsche with a delay

But more orders have also been received from the VW house brand and the other high-volume brands Skoda and Seat/Cupra. VW cannot prefer Porsche forever – and this is becoming apparent now that the supply problems continue. As Porsche writes, the declines in the Taycan result “from bottlenecks in the supply chains and limited availability of parts”.

“The many challenges triggered by the war in Ukraine, disrupted supply chains and the ongoing semiconductor crisis shaped the past year and made great demands on us,” explains Detlev von Platen, Board Member for Marketing and Sales at Porsche. The time was also marked by the sports car manufacturer’s IPO – and Oliver Blume’s start as dual manager of Porsche and VW.